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A goodly number of gentlemen asssemblcd punctually at the Barr's Court 

 station, and after electing Thomas Llanwame, Esq., of Hereford, and Mr. J. B. 

 Downing, of Holm Lacy, as new members ; and transacting some other pre- 

 liminary business ; they started by the 9.40 a.m. train on their short trip to 

 Stoke Edith station. 



The morning was bright and sunny, and the atmosphere clear. A light 

 breeze, just tinged with an autumnal feel, tempered the brightness and heat 

 of the sun. At Stoke Edith lodge a few ladies and gentlemen joined the party. 

 Availing themselves of the kind permission given by Lady Emily Foley, all the 

 members and their friends, numbering nearly forty, passed through the park 

 and gardens of Stoke Edith. The garden on the south front of the mansion 

 presents that very great difficulty to a landscape gardener of a steep and uniform 

 rise in the ground directly away from the house, and he would be a clever artist 

 who could hit on a better design than Mr. Nesfield has done to surmount it. 

 An arabesque pattern is marked out everywhere, with box edging trimly cut, 

 including many coloured walks, from the white of bright Derbyshire spar to the 

 red of brick, and the black of scoriaj, and here and there the box opens out to 

 receive the flowers which give life to the design by the brightness of their colours. 

 The pattern laid upon the steep grass slope is broad near the house, and gradually 

 tapers up to a point where old Father Time stands with his scythe and his dial. 

 The whole design is graceful and effective — a summer and a winter garden too — 

 for when the flowers are absent, the bright green mazy line of box edging 

 contrasts cheerfully with the coloured walks, and shows out more distinctly still 

 the general pattern. The dial, too, has that well- known significant motto, 

 borrowed, if we mistake not, from the sundial in the square of Verona — 



"Horas non numero nisi serenas." 

 The gardener was in attendance to explain all matters of interest, and he did 

 solve one difficulty for us. He accounted for the presence of the Anchusa 

 sempervirens, the Alkanet, which was found growing on the road side near the 

 station. He had cultivated this plant in the garden for the bees, and after the 

 fire which occurred there last spring he removed the broken bricks and debris 

 of the fire to the road side, and with them doubtless the seeds of this plant had 

 been taken. The club now jjassed out from the private grounds into the deer 

 park. An easy walk led to the summit of the hill, and here and there, when 

 a pause was made, an extensive prospect of hill and dale unfolded itself to 

 view. Looking to the left over Moreton spire, Lady-Uft wood and Robin Hood's 

 Butts near Canon Pyon, could be distinctly seen ; while in the centre, in the 

 far distance, the Radnorshire Beacon and hills above Kington were visible ; and 

 on the right the Clee Hills could also be distinguished. As the visitors ascended 

 in single file among the high fern, and luxuriant oak trees, a rustling was heard 

 abpve the roadway, and almost on the head of the leader of the company a 

 startled doe and her fawn leaped forth, wondering at the unwonted intrusion on 

 their forest home. 



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