Can I do anything to improve the appearance of this climber?

[RingoFlamingo]

Like many I've become a wannabe gardener in lockdown and was hoping for some advice on this climber on my fence. It was there when I moved in to the house 8 years ago and I've done nothing with it, other than cut out some ugly plastic trellis a couple of weeks ago (just left a couple of inches at the top to hold it up).

I've no idea what it is. The leaves only seem to appear at the end of the branches, should I try cutting some of them shorter at the end of the summer? Or grow another climber up it to cover the ugly bare bit? Just get rid of it and start again? The fence faces East.

Any help would be greatly received, thanks in advance!

A close up of the leaves would help identify it. Are there any flowers?
It could be several things that might respond to a drastic prune at the right time.

Is it a honeysuckle? pretty flowers later in the year with a glorious smell.

It actually looks like it doesn't like you and prefers next door, I've had plenty of plants do that to me over the years, do they have the sunny side of the fence?

If that is the case now is a brilliant time to take a few cuttings and maybe try and relocate it somewhere else.

I don’t know what it is though I think the leaves look a bit like honeysuckle maybe?

Has it ever flowered?
If so, what are the flowers like and when do they appear?

All climbers will go bare stemmed like this over time with the foliage at the top in the sunlight.
The stems need to be trained horizontally on wires or trellis to stop that happening.

Depending on what it is, you may be able to cut it practically to the ground, wait for it to re shoot and train the new stems horizontally so you have a wall of foliage and flowers instead of the bare stems.

Or, if there’s room you can plant something tall and leafy in front to disguise those bare woody stems

Thanks for the replies. I've taken a picture of the leaves. Can't remember if it flowers but will pay attention this year.

I could put a pot at the bottom, that might help disguise it. It's not in a bed, the fence is at the edge of the lawn. I was thinking of creating a narrow border of some kind because close to the fence it just becomes weeds and bare earth. My grass is in a terrible state too but that's another thread!

billybagpuss my side of the fence faces directly East so it gets morning sun only.

Yes it's a honeysuckle, they're quite easy to take cuttings from if you have a sunnier fence to grow it on.

I do have a fence on the other side, will google honeysuckle cuttings. Thanks very much.

All that brown wood at the bottom looks very dead, I would plant another climber in a large pot and use those dead vines as a support system. Star jasmine would do well with that aspect.

You need to cut it down to the ground, it should then be healthier and flower or do what it's meant to do.

Checked the RHS website. If you want to renovate a honeysuckle you need to prune it in the late-winter. by cutting back all of the stems to a height of 60cm (2ft) . Then you will get plenty of new shoots, and can select the strongest and best placed stems to cover your support,fence.
They say that this is a good way to re-start a honeysuckle that has become very congested and bare at the bottom - like yours.

Great, I will make a note to cut it right back in late winter and put up a more attractive trellis to start again.

Star jasmine looks lovely too, maybe will put some of that further along the fence. I wouldn't have a clue what plants will work where, so great to have recommendations from people with more experience.

I'll definitely be posting lots more questions, you've all been so helpful, thank you!

Great, I will make a note to cut it right back in late winter and put up a more attractive trellis to start again

Two things, first of all, established healthy honeysuckles grow very big and very heavy so it needs to be a very strong, sturdy trellis.

None of that flimsy, extending nonsense.
A wire tensioning system instead of trellis would work well too.

Make sure you train most of the new stems out horizontally, failure to train horizontally will lead to a bare woody bottom with all the green growth at the top.

I assume you're on the north side of that fence. The whole point of a climber is to use whatever's there to get up to the tree canopy and the sunlight, and that's what your honeysuckle is doing. So even if you cut it to the ground, it will always have a tendency to reach for the top of the fence. Planting a honeysuckle the other side of the garden seems the way to go, and plant something here which has a lot of interest in the leaves, so you can keep it from going over the top of the fence, and not worry too much about whetehr it flowers.