[Goosegirl]

If you are getting intruders, can you find room for either of these two as they have thorns! Rosa rugosa (not evergreen though but you could try one or two and they keep tiny hair-like thorns on their stems that really get in your skin) and evergreen Pyracantha with white flowers in the spring and red or orange berries in the autumn and has big thorns!

[crh75]

Hedge not needed (i.e. "sooner") to provide shelter for the orchard trees?  Just thinking out loud ...

They are sheltered without the hedge.