What would you do with a bay tree that had been allowed to go its own
way and is now about 35 foot high and also very wide, stuck in the
middle of a shrubbery?
I'd like to tame it a bit and they owners don't mind either way (I do
their garden once a week) as it is pushing into some really nice shrubs
but honestly, can you even attempt to chop this down to normal bay tree
size (well I mean normal as in most sensible people's idea of size)

Or right down. It will reshoot from both old wood and its roots.

Yes, I did exactly this a couple of years ago and it's sprouting
vigorously from the stump.

David

We have big bay trees, you can attack them and chop them to whatever size or
shape you want and they will forgive you and start growing again :-)

kate