274 



GARDENS OLD AND NEW. 



ON THE LOWER TERRACE. 



and the lower terrace. From the sides of these subordinate 

 gardens vistas like the famous green walk run out into 

 the pleasure grounds. But perhaps the most striking use 

 of turf terracing is that of the crossing lines of sward, such as 

 that which runs for a great distance right through the grounds 

 at the foot of the stone terraces, passing the lower pleasaunce, 

 with its upright yews, its pavilions and cedars. Modern taste 

 has mitigated the severe classicisms of the Shrubland 

 gardens by covering the balustrades with roses and letting 

 climbing plants drape the terrace walls. But they still 

 remain one of the finest examples of the Italian style of 



garden embellishment as 

 British architects under- 

 stood it. 



When Sir William 

 Fowle Middleton died the 

 estate was vested in a 

 trust, now terminated, but 

 of a kind containing 

 rather unusual provisions. 

 The upkeep of the gardens 

 was specially provided 

 for by an endowment of 

 2,000 a year to be spent 

 in their maintenance. It 

 probably was not at all 

 too much for the task. 

 There are serpents of 

 golden yew lying on green 

 cushions of turf, gardens 

 hanging looft. above 

 other gardens, and along 

 the great transverse walk 

 is a whole series of 

 gardens each in a different 

 style. You take your 

 choice of anything you 

 fancy, or can imagine 

 yourself in Japan at one 

 moment, or at Hampton 

 Court the next. Going to the right from the panel 

 garden the visitor sees the fountain garden, a blaze of 

 colour ; next is a Chinese garden ; then a box garden 

 follows, devoted to the treatment of that staple of the topiary 

 art ; a verbena garden follows, and then a maze. The poplar 

 garden is greatly in place in Suffolk, where that tree forms in 

 its wild state the most striking feature in the landscape. There 

 are also a rose garden, a tent garden, and detached groups of 

 flowers stretching away to lake and wood. The looking-glass 

 garden sends two brilliant borders up to an open summer- 

 house, whence the coup d'ceil can be surveyed at leisure. 



THE FERN GATES. 



