Tatton Park Mobberley. 93 



the beautiful gardens and grounds of TATTON PARK, the 

 seat of Lord Egerton, who liberally throws them open 

 to the public on certain days during the summer. The 

 park is upwards often miles in circumference, and con- 

 tains 2135 acres, 400 of which are occupied by woods 

 and plantations, while 79 are water. Close by, likewise, 

 is MERE HALL, the ancient seat of the Brookes, with its 

 fine park and grand old trees, (in one of which rabbits 

 take shelter,) and the magnificent sheet of water that 

 repeats its own name, being called Mere mere, 



MOBBERLEY station, like that of Ashley, is on the 

 " Cheshire Midland" line that is to say, the iron 

 avenue which begins at Altrincham, and for the present 

 terminates at Northwich. The first sod was cut by Sir 

 Henry Mainwaring, in December 1860. So pleasing is 

 the country right and left, the soil is so dry, and the air 

 so salubrious, that in a few years, probably, its borders 

 will be studded with handsome residences, or at least 

 near the stopping-places. Long known only by name 

 to the people of Manchester, Mobberley village, (one of 

 the most ancient in Cheshire,) and the pleasant neigh- 

 bourhood, can now be reached with ease. 



The shortest is not always the most satisfying path, 

 and such is the case with the approach to Mobberley. 

 Better than to make direct for the village, is it to go 

 only a few yards in the straight line from the station, and 

 then to turn to the right, beneath an oak, an ash, and 



