Singlemalt

Many thanks for that, very helpful. Sure, I definitely want it done properly without harming the trees. What is the best time of year? I read somewhere winter is a bad time because of risk of frost damage.

We have a number of Lime (Common Lime, I believe) lining our driveway - someone in the 1850's (we think) had the foresight to plant them, and now we are enjoying this rather wonderful avenue. But we feel they could do with tidying up as they are getting very bushy. I would like to get an arborist in to attend to them. My questions are 1. should the "suckers" growing from the base of the trees and some way up the trunk, be pruned off? 2. What is the best way to prune them and what time of year. 3. looking at my attached photos, roughly how long would be be reasonable to allow a professional arborist to tidy up the base of one of these trees and to around 8ft? There are quite a few of them.....44 to be exact (and that's just lining the drive, there are almost 60 if I include others around the grounds). Only the 44 along the drive need looking at at the moment. Located in Sutherland, Highlands. Any advice gratefully received!