NOTES ON THE ILLUSTRATIONS 



has mainly sought to amplify natural features and has followed 

 nature's guidance with care and intelligence. The small formal 

 garden illustrated is effective as a contrast to the more rugged 

 charms of the rest of the grounds, and is in itself a fortunate 

 example of well-matured garden arrangement, happily imagined 

 in the beginning and not spoiled subsequently by any excess of 

 control. 



Helmingham Hall (Plates LXVII. and LXVIII.) is distinguished 

 by the essentially English character of its setting. An old house 

 with a double moat, it has not taken on any inappropriate aspect 

 through the lapse of years, but has retained the charm that comes 

 only through duly respected antiquity. The graces of French or 

 Italian gardening would have been misplaced in such a situation ; 

 the natural beauty of flower masses edging grass walks is infinitely 

 better in keeping with the appearance of the house, to which such 

 adjuncts seem to belong by right. The Lily Pond, with its sloping 

 grass banks and still water reflecting the over-hanging trees, is a 

 feature of definite value one which, though not uncommon in old 

 places, is always to be welcomed as a variant on the conventional 

 fountain basin. Another pretty Lily Pond is to be seen at Heming- 

 ford Grey (Plates LXX. and LXXI). It is less extensive and less 

 elaborately treated than the one at Helmingham Hall, but with its 

 little terrace wall and thickly overgrown banks it is undeniably 

 picturesque. The garden at Hemingford Grey makes no pretension 

 to formality ; it is simply a fascinating tangle of flowers which 

 make a thick undergrowth beneath the taller trees. It has the 

 familiar character of the well-kept cottage garden where the pre- 

 cision appropriate to a larger place would be undesirable, but it is 

 notable as an instance of the order which is possible even when 

 absolute formality is not attempted. It was laid out by the owner, 

 Mr. W. Dendy Sadler. 



What can be particularly admired in the garden which lies on the 

 west front of Hengrave Hall (Plates LXXII. and LXIII.) is the 

 complete harmony between the lines of the paths and borders and 

 those of the house itself. The great breadth of the walks and the 

 absence of any very evident perpendicular lines gives a spaciousness 

 of effect which agrees with the long levels of the roof and battle- 

 ments. This effect is, perhaps accidentally, helped by the trimming 

 of the creepers on the house to an even height. The large flat base of 

 the vase in the centre of the main walk increases the suggestion 

 of horizontality, and the vase itself gives the one vertical required 

 to prevent the flatness of the design from degenerating into 

 xxviii 



