Pleached Pear Trees

Just wondering if anyone has done pleached pear trees before. Got a section in the front garden which is walled to about hip height. I'm planning on removing a couple of conifers and, as I want to make private/shield off this area, I thought growing some pleached pear trees would be good. I was inspired by some of the pleached fruit trees I saw in Belgium this last week.

For starters - I wasn't sure what pears would be good to do this with? Also - is it easily done?

Have seen some online for sale for £350!!! Hoping to do it myself much cheaper.

http://www.greenhills-nursery.co.uk...ed-conference-2-8-m-pear-tree-detail?Itemid=0

Anyone ever tried this or got any advice? Thanks in advance.

 

I have never heard of pleached fruit trees, but I bought a number of cordons a couple of years ago, and it turns out one of the apples is an espalier. I got 5 bare root trees for £25.

Both pleaching and espalier are inventive methods of tree shaping, which is defined as the art of pruning and sculpting living trees and plants to create attractive architectural structures and art forms.

Trained fruit – in pictures