CO 



JOURNAL OP HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



nJanimiy 18, 1871 



The estate is sitiiateJ on the uorfhern side of the county of 

 Norfolk, about eiglit miles from King's Lymi, and on one side is 

 baunded by the broad estuary of the Wash. The nearest 

 station to it is Woolferton on the Great Eastern Railway — a 

 remote station between which and London there are three 

 trains a-day each way. It is a wild-lookiug road in winter that 

 from Woolferton to SaudrLugham, over a hill, through Ferns, 

 through young plantations of Conifers, through a wild heath, 

 passing liot a house till one reaches that of Sir William KnoUys 

 but a short distance from the Norwich gates. These were the 

 work of Messr.s. Barnard, Bishop, & Barnard, of Norwich, and ex- 

 hibited at the International Exliibition of 1862 ; afterwards 

 they were presented to the Prince by the county, and now 

 form an appropriate and dignified entrance to the grounds. 

 But before entering these we must pause to remark that on 

 the estate a peouhar sort of carr or ironstone is largely dug 

 out of the heath, where it is found close to the surfaca. It is 



.soft and crumliling when recently dug out, has the appearance 

 of, and often is called, " brown sugar." Sir Robert Walpole 

 used it for constructing the walls of his stables at Houghton, 

 and the same material has been extensively employed in build 

 ing the boundary waUs of the pleasure grounds, the offices of the 

 mansion, and many of the cottages. Thin pieces of this stone 

 are held together by mortar which, however, does not extend 

 to the face of the wall, and the latter, consequently, has a 

 somewhat rustic appearance. Where employed in the offices 

 of the mansion and other buildings, stone facings at the 

 corners give a finished appearance. 



Saudriugham is in a county celebrated more than others for 

 its productions of botanists and fruit trees, and, as we shall'. 

 presently show, the garden at Saudriugham f uUy maintains the' 

 reputation of its county for fruit trees. The county's prolificacy 

 of the latter may be traced, probably, to its former exuberance 

 in monastic establishments. Monks were celebrated for their 



old Saaidi'uigliam House — We-st frout. 



attention to gardening, and how they superabounded in Nor- 

 folk may be appreciated from the fact that of 1148 monas- 

 teries sequestered by Henry VIII., seveuty-nine were in Nor- 

 folk. Confining our attention to Apples only, the following 

 have this county for their birthplace : — Col. Harbord's Pippin, 

 Caroline, Winter Colman, Winter Broadend, Harvey's Apple, 

 Loudon Pippin, Baxter's Pearmain, Belle Boune, Hubbard's 

 Pearmain, Winter Majetin, Fonldou Pearmain, Horsham 

 Russet, White Stone Pippin, and Winter Quoiniug. Whether 

 the Beefing originated in Norfolk is doubtful, but it wa« so 

 early and so largely cultivated there as to be usually caUed the 

 " Norfolk Beefing." 



Knowing the reputation of Saudriugham tor fruit-production, 

 — a reputation Boon gained and well upheld, as witness the lead 

 Mr. Carmichael took on more that one occasion in competitions 

 for in-izes offered by this Journal against some of the most 

 skilful gardeners iu the country — the fruit and kitchen garden 

 was that part of the place which first engaged our attention. But 

 iu passing through the pleasure grounds on our way thither 

 we could not but remark the great changes which have been 

 made. The old house, of which we give a representation, has 

 been pulled down, and a handsome new mansion, only com- 

 pleted last autumn, has been erected in its place from the 

 designs of A. J. Humbert, Esq., of London. The greatest 

 drawback is that the site is so low ; and although the old pond 



which was in fiout of it has been replaced by a lake further 

 removed, still there is more of mist in the early morning than 

 is either desirable or healthy. A better position might have 

 been, and would doubtless have been, chosen had it in the first 

 instance been settled that au enthely new mansion should be 

 erected, but only a reconstruction was at first intended, and 

 the result has been a new house on the old site. There are 

 many pretty views, especially from the terrace, whence every 

 here and there one obtains glimpses of the church to which a 

 path leads through an avenue of Scotch Fir's, with a breadth of 

 turf on each side of the gravel, a portion of the undershrubs 

 having been removed to give place to the grass. We will now 

 pass ou to the kitchen garden, the main object of our visit, 

 deferring till a future occasion a notice of the new mansion 

 and its surroundings. 



The kitchen garden at Saudriugham forms one grand pa- 

 rallelogram of 900 feet by 31-5 feet within the walls, or rather 

 more than 6J acres, besides which there is more than 8 acres 

 of ground in outside sUps, bringing up the total area to 1-5 acres. 

 It wUl thus be seen that it is one of the largest kitchen gardens 

 in the kingdom ; and that it is also one of the most complete 

 as well iu its broad comprehensiveness as in its small details 

 can likewise be affirmed, '\^^len it is considered that only six 

 years ago this was a Tunii]i field, and that in a few months 

 afterwards the walls were built, the groimd prepared, the trees - 



