PACIWVOOD 

 . . HOUSE, 



BIRMINGHAM, 



IN our quest for beautiful gardens, and for the charming 

 houses they adorn, we seek many diverse le.itures, 

 ments, and attractions We do .in ample meed >t justice 

 st\ le and ch.ir.ii.-ter of the sweet domestic art of 

 lenage. There shall he no spirit of exclusion in 

 an\ tiling we illustrate <>r write. Recognising that everything 

 i> right when rightly used, we are able t> exemplify a world <>t 

 admirable things. From the quaint and modest garden of old 

 hngl.ind, end >M-d within its walls and overlooked by its 

 terraces, we may range to tile great and stately pleasaunces ot 

 .uid pass ,, u t int the wider expanses of the pastoral 

 l.indsvarvs of Kent and Brown. Not anywhere shall we find 

 any Inn,; more quaint and beautiful than the old gardens of 

 PackwiMiJ House. It is a pleasaiuue ol terraces and dipped 

 \e\\s. of dials and splendid gates .1 true old garden oi 

 tfngtand. 



"Thru ili<l I arc plraiuint |>ara<li<c 



l-'ull ofuwcrl flo vt-ns nn 1 ilaiutirst .It-IighU. 

 Such a* in earth man coul.i not drviw : 

 With jilrjMir 'i lVc.1 hu olu-rrUil -.|inlit." 



It is a parik-n, indeed, Mich as Spenser knew, but de\ ised 

 veil by man. and informed with indiv.duality and character 

 )f its own. Mr. Kohins m. that w-:i-known and persuasive 



THE SEAT . 



or 



MRS. ARTON. 



exponent of natural gaulen art. has no qti.irrel with gardens 

 such as Packwood. Part of his work has tven, he says, to 

 pieserve much record of their b.-auty, and the neci- 

 terraces round houses like Madilon "may be and an- .is 

 beautiful as any garden e\er made by man." And when a 

 garden expresses such ideas .is .ire embodied in those ..jii.iint 

 shapes at Packwood, with terra es toimed o| m.i-nilkeiit old 

 brickwork, who, indeed, could withhold praise from such a 

 conception Consistently maintained? 



But, before we describe the P.ukwood gardens, let us 

 s.iy a little ol Packwood House, rememlvring always that the 

 garden is but the framework of the dwellmg-pl.Ke, and the 

 region in which the dweller therein bends Natuie to his will. 

 Mrs. Arton's picturesque lmme--t.-ad lies about eight miles west 

 of Kenilwoith, and five miles north of Henley in Arden, 

 the road thence to Birmingham, in a c<>untry ol veiii-ralre 

 forest associated much with the im-moiu^ ot the imm >ital 

 bard. It was anciently a house of the honourable family of 

 Ketherstone, concerning whom ol.l 1 1.1^ l.ile. the veracious 

 historian ot Warwickshire, has little to s.i\ . though lie r-inds 

 the nscriptioi^ on their monuments in the aiuient village 

 Church of St. (iiles. One of these is sacred to the pious 

 memory ot John Fetherstone, wh > died in 1670, ai the age -I 



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THE GATEWAY 



