ID and advice...

I'll see what I can do... The last pic was actually quite an attractive thing - very thin stems with lots of variegated leaves and little white flowers but I couldn't move for it... so I gave it a bit of a haircut...

 

So a few more pictures of some great thing up in the corner... :D

Do I leave it? Trim it? Burn it? :D

 

Think it's Pheasant Berry..Leycesteria formosa. What a lovely specimen! If you need to reduce the size, prune out some old stems after flowering (or just hack it back all over.....seems to work for the French). As a general guideline, if a shrub flowers in Spring, you prune it straight after flowering...the shoots it makes afterwards will flower next year. Stuff that flowers in summer is pruned in early Spring as it flowers on current year's growth.

 

Pheasant berry it is, I agree, but I always prune mine in early spring. Like a buddleia, cutting it hard. That way you get a nice shaped fountain of long growth every year.

 

Leycesteria formosa (pheasant berry) is pretty enough if you have plenty of space. It will seed all over the place. Birds love the berries, and will drop a magnitude of lovely bright red dollops everywhere. Whatever you do, never try to cut one down when it is in full fruit, as you will look as if you have been involved in a slaughter.
The stems are hollow, and can be bound up to make ''bee houses''
I find this one can be a nuisance.

 

Agree, leycesteria can be a thug. Not really a plant for an average size garden. A friend of mine, she has almost 6 acres, has a huge drift of it. Nothing else will grow there

 

It currently resides in the top left corner... the garden (use the term loosely...) is difficult to describe and some pictures may help. I am looking for ideas on what to make of what we have as it is a wee bit ugly at the moment. I want a pond...I had just made a lovely one at previous house before we upped sticks and came to Charmouth but I havent got quite so much room here...

 

Well, ponds are easy to site Open, sunny, level, no big, deciduous trees overhanging..piece of cake

 

I only got this one of mine up and running last year - every garden needs a pond, even if it is only a small one. It is the most relaxing place to be.