Chris Hogg wrote in
:

As you're on the south coast by the sea, it'll be fairly mild, so one
of the not-so-hardy salt-tolerant hedging plants might be OK for you,
such as any of the following: Escallonia varieties; Olearia traversii
or one of the other olearias; Griselinia littoralis; Euonymus
japonicus; Tamarisk (a bit untidy IMO); Hippophae rhamnoides. They'll
probably all need trimming eventually, and none very pretty IMO and
certainly not in the 'flowering cherry' league, but worth thinking
about. Look them up and make a judgement.

Fast growers in exposed coastal positions tend to outgrow their roots
and blow over easily in strong gales unless you cut them back to four
or five feet a couple of times in the first few years, to allow the
roots to get a good grip and the trunks to strengthen. Merely staking
them is little more than a futile gesture as unless you use really
heavy stakes (say 3" dia.min.) they'll break at ground level when
they've been in a couple of years.

Thanks for that! I took my weeping willow back to the small garden centre
where I bought it. They let me change it for somethinh more suitable. After
much hunting and cogitating, I settled upon a griselinia littoralis a.k.a.
New Zealand Privet (one of the ones you suggested). I saw that it grows to
about the correct height and spread, and loves the sea air and full sun,
yet sheltered from the wind, so it should be happy here... Also great is
the fact that it's evergreen (I think). I'll follow your sdvice about
cutting back.

Al