108 



GARDENS OLD AND NFW, 



to give interest 10 the gardens. There is a magnificent view 

 from the terraces over the valley and the park, the whole 

 scene being extremely pleasing and rich in wood and water. 

 The old cedars at one end are magnificent, and on every hand 

 there is a splendid sylvan prospect. The principal garden was 

 designed by Nesfield, and is one of the finest examples of his 

 work. There is formality in the terraced arrangement, but 

 very great variety, and during the summer-time the quaintly- 

 designed flower-beds are filled with a bright array of plants in 

 bloom. Several fine examples of deciduous magnolias flourish 

 under the shelter of the terrace walls. From the principal floor of 

 the mansion a double stairway leads down to a flagged terrace 

 walk, having between it and the house wall a magnificent 

 flower border, while vases full, of choice things are on the 

 other hand, where three steps bring the visitor to the gravel 

 terrace bounded by a long balustraded wall, from which there 





walk of about a mile and a-lialf from the house to the 

 kitchen gardens, which are tastefully arranged with borders 

 of old-fashioned flowers fringing the pathways and relieving 

 the monotony of the parts planted with fruit trees and 

 vegetables. Crown Imperials, arabises, fritillaries, lupines, 

 double rockets, and pDlyanthuses are a few of the many 

 charming flowers employed. 



In other parts of the grounds great masses of rhododen- 

 drons furnish a beautiful underwood, the woodland itself 

 consisting of beech, silver birch, oak, the flowering cherry, 

 false acacia and larches and various other conifers. The 

 flower garden and pleasure grounds occupy together over 

 150 acres. In the lake are masses of white and yellow water- 

 lilies, while along the banks are planted many moisture-loving 

 plants, such as reeds, giant spiraeas, flag irises, myosotis, etc. 



Then, as befits so great a place, there is, in one of the 



THE DOUBLE TERRACE. 



is a lovely outlook over the formal garden below and the park 

 and landscape beyond. This formal garden is splendid in 

 design and colour, with conical bushes to give distinction of 

 feature, and at its outer edge is another balustraded terrace 

 wall, with bold, semi-circular embayments towards the park 

 and noble stairways leading down to the grass slopes. These 

 grass slopes below the terrace are a pleasing feature, and 

 evidently the dip of the hill has given many advantages to 

 the garden designer. 



The park comprises several thousands of acres, and is 

 splendidly wooded and varied in character, with the lake, 

 embosomed in foliage, a prominent object in the landscape as 

 seen from the house or the formal garden. The lake stretches 

 ;iway from the western side of the mansion, being there 

 bordered by beech woods and fringed by flowering cherries, 

 and it neighbours the kitchen gardens and glass-houses, and 

 broadens into a considerable sheet. There is a delightful 



vineries, the finest example in the United Kingdom of that 

 most delicious of white grapes, the Muscat of Alexandria. This 

 vine, according to the tablet in the vinery, was planted in 

 1783, and the house that contains it enlarged in 1839. Not- 

 withstanding its great age, it is still a vigorous bearer and 

 produces good crops of fruit. 



The church stands in the park half a mile from the village, 

 and was perhaps the work of the monks of Bolton, to whom it 

 was given by Lord Lisle in 1353. It was sadly treated when 

 it was " beautified" in the style of 1793, but has since been 

 well restored. It contains the altar tombs of Sir Richard 

 Redman and Sir Wiliiam Ryther, both sons-in-law of Sir 

 William Aldburgh, who built Harewood Castle, witii their 

 wives. There also is the tomb, with effigies, of the famous 

 judge Gascoigne and his wife, he wearing his judicial robes 

 with collar of SS, and a coif upon his head. 



Harewood is one of those places which appeal to us chiefly 



