NOTES ON THE ILLUSTRATIONS 



of which were designed by Lady Ridley. The lily pond has a stone 

 edging, which is broken at regular intervals by flights of steps leading 

 from the water to the walk above, and is surrounded by a terrace 

 wall, and round it is placed a series of some sixty grotesque stone 

 figures. The rose garden is enclosed by a pergola, built of old red 

 bricks, which is an unusually ingenious and picturesque piece of 

 construction ; and the path beneath the pergola is also made of red 

 bricks arranged in geometrical patterns. Other attractions at 

 Blagdon are the lake, a sheet of water prettily overhung with trees ; 

 and the dene the valley spanned by the entrance bridge which is 

 laid out with winding walks through a tangle of wild woodland. 

 At Bramham Park (Plates VIII. to XIV.), there are unusually ex- 

 tensive gardens and pleasure grounds which were laid out in the style 

 of the gardens at Versailles by a French designer in the time of 

 Queen Anne. A particular characteristic of the place is the series of 

 broad walks, many of them grass paths, running through groves of 

 beech-trees, which in some places are trained to form arches over the 

 paths. These paths are from twenty to thirty feet wide and lie 

 between walls of close-clipped beech-trees some twenty feet high ; 

 they run in all directions and form avenues through which are seen 

 vistas of the surrounding country. At one point four walks radiate 

 from a centre where a large group of statuary is placed. Lakes and 

 lily ponds are used with good effect in the design, and temples and 

 garden pavilions sometimes placed at the end of a vista are intro- 

 duced with excellent judgment. There is a sunk rose garden in front 

 of the house, and there are other flower gardens in different parts of 

 the grounds. In many respects Bramham Park is a unique example 

 of garden-making ; there is no other place of the same character in 

 England. 



Brancepeth Castle, the seat of Viscount Boyne (Plates XV. and XVI.), 

 is an imposing building, a large mediaeval castle standing on high 

 ground which on two sides slopes to a deep glen. Through this glen 

 runs a stream along the course of which are waterfalls and stepping- 

 stones, and bridges which connect different parts of the grounds. 

 Round the castle are lawns and shrubberies with winding paths ; the 

 flower gardens are arranged at some little distance from the building. 

 In the kitchen garden there is a feature of a very attractive kind, a 

 broad gravelled walk, bordered with flowers and enclosed within yew 

 hedges, which has in its centre a stone fountain and at the end a pair 

 of finely wrought iron gates leading into the park. 

 Brockhole (Plates XVIII. and XIX.) is a characteristic lake-side 

 garden which was designed and planted by Mr. Mawson some ten 



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