102 



GARDENS OLD AND NEW. 



and peeps of colour. A 

 colony of paeonies is 

 blooming on a wide 

 lawn, around which 

 low - branched trees 

 have made a rampart ; 

 fresh pink monthly 

 roses are clustering 

 round a weathered 

 statue of their goddess 

 Flora ; syringas are 

 shedding their 

 fragrance on the gale ; 

 and Scotch briar roses 

 enter a quiet retreat 

 through a honey- 

 suckle-covered arch- 

 way. 



Further on we 

 discover an octagon 

 summer-house to rest 

 in, built round an 

 ancient apple tree, 

 open to all the winds 



of heaven, beloved of birds, and wreathed with climbing 

 roses, honeysuckle, ivy, jasmine, and clematis. Around it are 

 horseshoe-shaped beds of carnations, dwarf roses, and 

 pansies, edged with London pride, and behind these a mixed 

 border, filled with the stronger-growing hardy perennials: 

 giant evening primroses, tall daisy - flowers, delphiniums, 

 phloxes, the old-fashioned double white rockets, and lovely 

 Madonna lilies. But we find, perhaps, a more charming part of 

 the pleasure grounds still if we leave the central vista, flanked 

 by greensward and umbrageous trees, and terminated in the 

 distance by the carven figures of shepherd and shepherJe>s, 



Copyright. 



VEN HOUSE, FROM THE FURTHER TERRACE 



and strike to the left, 

 where the sound of 

 running water is heard. 

 We emerge then upon 

 the banks of a murmur- 

 ing brook, an early 

 stream of the Yeo, 

 over-arched by trees, 

 and flowing between 

 fern-covered banks, 

 with many a silent 

 Jeep and many a bab- 

 bling shallow, until it 

 passes beneath the 

 span of that graceful 

 bridge amid flag-irises 

 and forget-me-njts. 

 How delightful, we 

 think, to play croquet 

 or tennis on a lawn 

 by such a stream. 



Yen House has a 

 garden of woodland 

 and flowers ; almost 

 wherever you go the air is filled with fragrance. The centre 

 walks are gay, behind their box edging, with fine arrays of 

 hardy flowers, and you pass beneath many a rose-laden arch. 

 The inner walled garden has the same character. Carnations 

 and daffodils line each side of the centre path, while the rose- 

 arches are masses of bloom, and colonies of lily of the valley 

 hard by produce in due season plenteous harvests of their 

 delicate and odorous blossoms. To convey an idea of such 

 delights is difficult, indeed, but the pictures will enable the 

 reader to realise how really beautiful and characteristic are the 

 gardens of Yen House. 



"Country Life." 



Copyright. 



THE ASCENT FROM THE GARDEN. 



' Cvitntry Life." 



