SW London - where to buy and get advice about semi-mature trees for screening

[notsohard]

We want to plant an evergreen tree at the bottom of our garden to fill in the gap in screening shown in the photo. It will need to be around 12-14m high at full maturity, though if it takes 10 years or so to get there then so be it. The neighbours to the right have leylandii, which I know grow quickly, but lots of people have warned us off them for various reasons. A tree nursery I corresponded with online recommended a yew tree, but they seem to grow very slowly. We could start with something semi-mature , though the tallest I've found online so far is 3-4m, with no information on how long it would take to reach full height. Of course, delivery is an issue for large trees - it's not the sort of thing you can send by ParcelForce. We live in SW London so it would be good to know where to go for advice.

Look at Barcham Trees, they are an extremely good Company. If you email them the question you have posed here, they will advise you even if you are not buying from them. 2 years ago I had a garden makeover and bought my trees from them. There advice saved me from making some very expensive mistakes.

We have an acacia which is evergreen and has yellow flowers in January. We use it to screen the bottom of our garden

The Palm Centre just outside Richmond in SW London is a tree specialist (not just palms, despite the name).

Or if you are happy to look online I have bought fruit trees from Ashridge nurseries. They are very good! I think they are based in Somerset but their delivery, planting advice etc is very good.

If you have young children I would be wary of planting Yew. It is one of only 2 deadly poisonous plants native to the U.K. (the other is Deadly Nightshade). The red pulp of the berries is not toxic but the seed inside is and could look appetising to a small toddler.

What about an apple or cherry tree?