Stone bench (Dropmore). 



CHAPTER XXX. 



GARDEN HOUSES, BRIDGES, GATES, SEATS AND FENCES. 



MUCH effort is lost in useless garden buildings, and no way of garden 

 overdoing is so full of waste and ugliness. Recently we have seen 

 attempts to revive the old garden houses, but the result has not often 

 been happy. In old houses like Hatfield and Montacute the little 

 houses near the gate often had a true use at the entrance side, 

 but now we see such things revived for the mere sake of carrying 

 out a drawing, and as soon as built the aimlessness of the work 

 is seen, and then comes the difficult question of "planting it out" 

 from different points of view. Isolated building in a garden is 

 difficult to do with any good result. At one period the building 

 of temples was very common in pleasure gardens, and many of 

 them are still to be seen. It is best, when these are of good 

 form and structure, to keep them with care and make some simple 

 use of them, by removing at once all suggestion of the grotto and 

 having simple Oak benches or other good seats. The interior also 

 should be made simple in colour and free from covert for woodlice 

 or earwigs. It is in connection with the house, or part of its lower 



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