Hi Ron, I believe this plant may grow to apprx 5-10 metres but is medium growing, probably about the same rate as an apple tree!! It would take quite a while to hide a house with it.

It's also an ugly grower, tending to make lanky, unattractive shapes, bare at the base, and is only fully hardy down to -9 deg. C, so you'd have lost them this last winter - you haven't said where you are in the UK, and that makes a difference though. It's also winter flowering, so you won't get any flowers unless the winter is extremely mild.
Prunus laurocerasus is presumably what you were thinking of planting - reaches 25 feet if left unpruned, commonly used for hedging, very hardy.