IJHHHMMi 



147 



.rnin^ from this, so as to form thr< 



the hall. was a still later w ..nous brickwork that might 



have set n eighty summers. Here was abundant material (or 

 much hard thinking 



j'lanning, and for 



.n c 1 1 i.i 1 1 mi ot 



van. us ideas and 



Ivauty 



which seemed at tiist 

 to he mutually contra- 

 dictory. But at length 



; Ian shaped itselt. 

 It included rebuilding 

 part"! these two blocks 

 and connecting the 

 end i't the last with 

 the hall by I 



!e. 



So much for the 



house. And now what 



could Iv done in the 



n ? There hod 



tven a forecourt 



with a delightful 



~.te the 



porch. 1 h i s was 

 known from old views 

 of tile llou-e, a:id the 

 i Irom the gate- 

 house still stood in 



s under the great 

 Cedar. That was to 



be rebuilt into the south tront. As to the -ardens. there 

 were no tiaces remaining. The lardi wood spread pa-t 

 the south front; beyond that was a paddock, then a 

 lane and the load to 

 Blandford. \ smis ot 

 a sunny court ot 

 green on the south 

 front, with a Ion- 

 down tlxr Centre, seemed 

 to map themselves nut 

 on the survey. But the 

 larch wood must ^" t" 

 get it, and the ground 

 be excavated to ^ive a 

 Step down fro:n the 

 doorway. There w as a 

 mass of soil to be mov ed, 

 and the idea t ok shape 

 cf carting it towards the 

 Blandford mad to make 

 an upper garden, with 



.1 walks all round 

 and a long terrace 

 id. With a pavilion 

 at either end, which 

 would command the 

 whole. Between this 

 and the south couit there 

 would be a long, narrow 

 space, a pretty v ista 

 from the drawing-nx m 

 windows when rampant 

 roses and creeping 

 clematis clothed the 

 pinnacles. For in the 

 middle, at the cr 

 from the upper garden 

 to the south court, some 



errant fancv dictated a 



i 9nT*c* : - 



THE INTERIOR OF 



fHE ANCIENT DOVECOTE. 



f of) "*'. 



coronet in >t->ne, a circL- 



of pinnacles on ramps. 



with a sundial in the centre and step> down from tlte 



upper garden, with wrought-iron gates and basket 



fruit in stone. Beyond the arcade in the house would 



le tennis-lawn, and a ti-ure in 1 



n the stre.i!' ! the vista tii.U w 



through the Courtvard, the house, and the s., u th garden. 



Another visj.i, tro.n 

 the seat on tli 

 would .ross the upper 

 garden, through the 

 and tin- i ori.net, 

 unit, and. 

 .living into the ;;! 

 i.l a grove Ivvoiid. 



lose Itselt 111 the sh.ldy 

 M -s ..i a sUmmer- 

 hoUSe. 



Mull was the 

 scheme, tint .ailed for 

 much in the a. i "in- 

 plishin. 1 . Thi 

 tin- telling, grubbing, 

 and v.irtmg away o| 

 trees, the purchase and 

 planting of yew and 

 I MX. ni ttirl and tl >.\ers 

 and creepers. There 

 \\eri tuns nf gravel, 



twice silted, and 



metalling for the 

 garden paths. For 

 many months 

 laden with russel st me 

 tioni Ham Mill creaked 

 down the Yeovil 



mad Rome was not built, nor was Athelhampton rebuilt, 

 in a day. The thousand and one ditti. ulties that attend 

 such undertakings all put in their appear.m.e in due 



Course. But at last 

 the outside work was 

 finished, and the hbiary 

 in the long w ing pain lied 

 in i ak and plastered with 

 a dainty pendant Celling 

 fr;^ ot iris and Turk's-'.iead 



hhes. 

 if:'- "1 I -'it v ears 1 



passed since the designer 

 uas separate. I lro:n his 

 I'tlsprmg. and on the 

 whole T'IIK- and Nature 

 seem to have dealt 

 kindly with hi> work, 

 and to have overlaid the 

 bare torm w it i 



I clematis, 

 and honev suckle, leaving 

 ju>t a hint here and 

 there of architectural 

 form, eii"ug i ti show 



:le ammc _:oAlllg 



tliinus. I s,.me 



changes in his darling 

 idea might not alto, 

 plea-e him. In the 

 coronet garden a 

 fountain has usurped 

 the place of the sundial. 

 In the sunk garden the 

 format on lacks a ceiure 

 and the four surrounding 

 figures, and there is a 



sense : Illcomplet' 



irom the piers wanting 

 proper lim.ils. But on 

 the wh irdening 



seems to have followed the right direct! -n. The paved 

 court with its wuker du.is is the very place in which to 

 ba-k through Me alter lunch; but one would readily 





THE 



