140 



GARDENS OLD AND NEW. 



touches the yews, and their " gloom is kindled 

 at the tips," and when the roses scent the 

 summer breeze. 



There is thus a twofold character of gardening 

 at Cleeve Prior, the ancient and the modern, but 

 both contribute to the aspect of repose. There 

 are some cut trees that aggravate us, as 

 monstrous productions of the topiary art, warring 

 with Nature, but not so the solemn yews in this 

 old garden. 



Some forms of modern gardening again are 

 garish and unsatisfactory in their richness and 

 excess, but nothing of this kind is found at 

 Cleeve Prior. The flowers here seem to appeal 

 to us more than in some places where their pro- 

 fusion is greater. There is the sense of repose 

 dominating the whole, and the contrasts of style 

 and colour enhance the effect without harshness 

 or violence of juxtaposition. Then from the lawns 

 and flower beds you may pass into the wild 

 garden, with its tangled growths and its glorious 

 harvesting of sweet and beautiful flowers. From 

 the time, indeed, when you set foot upon those 

 quaint semi-circular steps at the gateway, and 

 traverse the yew avenue, to the moment when 

 you regretfully leave, you find some attraction or 

 interest in all the gardens of Cleeve Prior. 



It is unnecessary to dwell further upon garden 

 features, which, save for the Apostles' Garden, 

 are of subdued character, though there are certain 

 points and characters of the place so attractive 

 as to deserve some further notice. The features 

 we allude to are the manifestations of the quaint- 

 ness, charm, and beauty of country life which we 

 find about this Worcestershire house. The village 

 in its relation to the house, the farm, the dovecotes, 

 the general character of old-world picturesqueness 

 will appeal to many readers. In such places 

 we realise the rural life that has continued for 

 centuries in England with little change in its 

 essential character, we conjure up the impressions 

 of earlier ages, and we feel that the lives 

 of earlier Englishmen are still exemplified among us. At 

 Cleeve Prior we find all this in the house and the garden 

 as well as in the village and the farm. 



Even more picturesque than the garden itself is the 

 neighbouring farmyard. Its cart houses, with their lofty 

 gables and external stairways leading to the lofts, have a 



Copyright. 



AN ANCIENT EXTERNAL STAIRWAY. 



' Country Life." 



Cofynfht. 



THE DOVECOTE IN THE FARMYARD, 



singularly pictorial character, while the dovecote is most 

 interesting, and is probably not equalled in England. 



In former times detached buildings were frequent in 

 gardens, and garden-houses and dovecotes gave charming 

 opportunities to the garden architect. Sometimes, as we have 

 already seen, there w^re " banqueting houses " at the 



ends of terraces, being places 

 where our ancestors were 

 festive in the summer-time, 

 and in "The Formal Garden 

 in England," by Mr. Blomfield 

 and Mr. Inigo Tnomas, many 

 eximples are given of the 

 exquisite character of such 

 effective structures, which, 

 indeed, at Montacute and 

 many of our great houses 

 are extremely noteworthy. 



Aviaries, like that spoken 

 of by Evelyn at Ham House, 

 are now very rarely found in 

 gardens, which may be even 

 a matter for congratulation, 

 since in modern days they 

 have often been crude and 

 inartistic erections. It was 

 otherwise in the sixteenth 

 century, when it was not 

 unusual to find such structures, 

 and the dovecote at Cleeve 

 Prior is a notable example. 

 The authors of "The Formal 

 Garden " remark that these 

 "Country t.i/t." buildings were considered 



