170 A BOOK OF ENGLISH GARDENS 



stood looking across a strip of Garden, with its 

 gable end to the road, described in old deeds as 

 " the King's Highway." A narrow, raised brick 

 path, almost like a terrace, ran from the little 

 white gate along the front of the cottage round to 

 the back, where it lost itself in a little patch of 

 cobble-stones. 



In the time of the Poppies this Garden is a 

 brilliant sight, filled with Poppies ranging in 

 colour from the palest pink to the deepest blood- 

 red, from cream to flaring yellow. They grow 

 all together in clumps, with the old red brick 

 wall of the terrace-like path behind them, a most 

 fitting background. The Poppy is a flower which 

 must always attract attention by its immense 

 decorative value ; either singly, among the corn, or 

 grouped in masses, it may always be counted on to 

 produce a most glorious effect. For the gorgeous- 

 ness of their beauty they pay, alas! with a 

 delicacy of petal, giving them but a fleeting exist- 

 ence. The only other flowers allowed to show 

 their heads among the Poppies are great bushes 

 of Lavender, Ribbon Grass, Rosemary, and Rue. 



Part of the ground beside this cottage is 

 described in old papers as " the ballad Singer's 

 Plot " a title which is a reminder of other times, 

 when wandering minstrels went round the country 

 singing their songs and carrying the news of those 

 days to the little country villages, which otherwise 



