VBN HOUSE, 



SOMERSET, . . 



THE SEAT OF ... 



Sir Edward Bradford Medlycott, Bart 



GARDENS 

 OLD-&NEW 



THE very fine and attractive gardens which we illustrate 

 are the adornment of a notable mansion in the West 

 Country Yen House, near Milborne Port, on the 

 borders of Dorset and Somerset. This is the liea j of 

 the gathering ground of the pleasant river Yeo, 0:1 ths 

 western side of the watershed which separates the b.isin of the 

 Somerset river from that of the Hampshire Stour. The country 

 is extremely pretty, with much varied natural beauty, and to 

 show that it is interesting it is enough to say that famous old 

 Sherborne, with its enriched and glorious abbey church, is the 

 near neighbour of Yen. At H;nstridge Ash, on the hill close 

 by, veracious tradition asserts that Walter Raleigh smoked his 

 first pipe, and was liberally treated with water by the peasants, 

 who thought his clothes were on fire. The country about Yen 

 House is hunted by the celebrated Blackmore Vale Foxhounds, 

 the vale being the wide and fertile level through which the 

 Cale flows southward from Wincanton to the Stour. 



The mansion stands close to the little town of Milborne 

 Port, with its fine Norman church and other evidences of 



a once greater state. An ancestor of \he present Baronet began 

 the building of Yen House in 1698, and completed it in 1701. 

 It is; a red brick structure of classic simplicity, its front inlaid 

 with stone, and the surface broken by Corinthian pilasters, 

 which run up to a balustrade crested by urns, and its wings 

 are pierced by large archways. The design has baen attributed 

 to various architects, and the house was thoroughly restored 

 about sixty years ago. Though far removed from the modern 

 ideals of domestic architecture, it belongs to a period and a 

 style that can never fail to command admiration. 



The gardens are in character appropriate to the hou;'-e f 

 and are well deserving of attention. Near it they have a 

 certain classic formality. At a little distance the regular lines 

 give place to the features of a more picturesque style, and 

 the grounds approach to native simplicity. There is here 

 a happy combination of styles. An enclosed garden with a 

 bordering terrace and classic adornments is the approach to a 

 leafy venue that seems to breathe the grandiose manner of 

 Le Notre. Though the mansion is not in a position that gives 



THE ENCLOSED GARDEN AND THE ELM AVENUE. 



Country Lije." 



