NOTES ON THE ILLUSTRATIONS 



work of winding walks which run up and down the steep slope of 

 the river bank, below which the turbulent stream flows with unusual 

 velocity, is extraordinarily picturesque, and many beautiful spots are 

 to be found among its tangled masses of foliage and thickets of 

 flowering plants. It is a wonderful example of apparently unpre- 

 meditated garden-making. The gardens which immediately surround 

 the house are planned with a great deal of taste and with full 

 consideration for the relation they should bear to the building itself. 

 There are large tennis and croquet lawns round which flower borders 

 are laid out, and there is a very fine rose garden which at the proper 

 season is a blaze of colour. Another charming spot is a raised, 

 circular lawn in the centre of which is placed a rectangular cistern, a 

 piece of old Venetian carving, with golden yew-trees grouped round 

 about it. Throughout these gardens the intention of the designer to 

 arrive at a dignified spaciousness of effect is very clearly revealed, and 

 that this intention has been fully realised is quite beyond dispute. 

 Windlestone Hall, the seat of Sir William Eden (Plates CXXXII. and V 

 CXXXIII.), is especially noteworthy for the profusion of flowers which 

 are grown in the gardens. This profusion is the more remarkable 

 because in the immediate neighbourhood of the house are several 

 collieries, which might not unreasonably have been expected to have 

 such an effect upon the atmosphere that anything like success in keep- 

 ing up a garden would have been impossible. But so well is the place 

 maintained that it does not in any way suggest that it has been 

 prejudiced by the local conditions. Sir William Eden, as an artist of 

 ability and experience, and as an expert in horticulture, has naturally 

 influenced greatly the character of these gardens ; he has made many 

 alterations in their arrangement and has added a number of features 

 which are valuable in enhancing the attractiveness of the general 

 design his direction and supervision, wisely exercised, have led to 

 important results. Around the Hall are many large trees a group of 

 ilexes particularly must be mentioned and there are numerous well- 

 planned walks which are edged with beds filled with an astonishing 

 variety of flowering plants. These gardens provide a series of colour 

 harmonies schemed with unusually good taste. 



At Wykeham Abbey (Plates CXXXIV. and CXXXV.) the gardens 

 are not only excellent in design but they have also the advantage of 

 including within their boundaries the ruins of the old abbey building. 

 These ruins in one part of the grounds are used with charming effect 

 as a background to a prettily laid-out lawn, and as the old stone walls 

 are partly covered with masses of climbing roses their pictorial value 

 in a delightfully arranged composition is inestimable. The spacing 



XXXV 



