I 3 2 



GARDENS OLD AND NEW. 



on the top of the straight wall. Our picture taken 

 from the south-east shows very clearly both the effect 

 of dividing the large hall window on the east side 

 into two windows, and of erecting the porch and bay 

 windows on the south front. As will be noticed, 

 ivy and other clinging growths have taken kindly 

 to the newer portions of the front, and relieved the 

 lines of the architecture without concealing them or 

 interfering with their character. 



Those who remembered Bradfield before Sir 

 John Walrond took it in hand were able to realise 

 the great changes in the grounds in the immediate 

 neighbourhood of the house which were due to his 

 taste and skill. If he trusted much to his architect 

 in the adornment of the edifice, it was his own love 

 for garden beauty and adornment that contributed 

 nearly everything to the charming surroundings, 



The form of this garden is rectangular, and it has 

 the spirit ot enclosure appropriate to the situation. 

 Beyond it to the north is the narrow lawn which we 

 imagine to have been the earlier garden, as on it 

 are the noble, ancient clipped yews, reminding us 

 much of the examples at Keevil. There is nothing 

 in either case grotesque or elaborate about them, the 

 forms being merely simple and quaint, in most cases 

 a square base surmounted by rings of the dark 

 greenery, and crested by a beehive shape. Beyond 

 this clipped yew lawn, and accounting for the narrow- 

 ness thereof, lies the old rectangular carp pond, with 

 steps down to the margin. Originally arranged as 

 part of the scheme of a geometrical garden, it was 

 surrounded by a box-edged alley, and the boxes, 

 growing up, have now formed a noble double hedge 

 of remarkable size and density. The pleasant green, 



"ENTERING FROM THE EAST THROUGH A LOW GATE.' 



which Mr. Latham's pictures so successfully illustrate. 

 Having abandoned the original east entrance, he was 

 able to turn the forecourt (which a sixteenth century 

 picture shows to have been a broad straight way 

 with grass on either side) into a bright and varied 

 Italian garden. Entering from the east through 

 a low gate of beaten iron, between rude stone 

 walls overshadowed by fir trees, we reach the 

 enclosure of this garden formed by a low wall of stone, 

 rough, but with a moulded coping, over which roses 

 and other climbers have cast their mantle of beauty. 

 Two lofty gateposts, which, no doubt, belonged to 

 the old forecourt, each crested with a sculptured urn, 

 have between them gates of hammered iron, both 

 appropriate and good, holding above the entrance the 

 armorial achievement of the Walronds. There are 

 fine yew and box hedges also, and the wall has richly- 

 worked vases and urns at intervals upon its parapet. 



contrasting with the lighter verdure of the turf, and 

 again with the varied hues of the coniferous and 

 deciduous trees, has a peculiar and special charm. 

 At the end of the broad grass way beyond the clipped 

 yews the tall, clean, red shafts of the great Scotch 

 firs give valuable vertical lines and distinction to 

 an otherwise flat prospect. Here is, indeed, a 

 triumph of harmonious arrangement in garden form 

 and colour. We think it worth while to point out how 

 admirable is the effect of the enclosed sheet of water, 

 with its sense of still solemnity and peaceful privity. 



The sculptor's art is well employed in this 

 beautiful Devonshire garden, not so much in figures 

 as in an abundance of elegant vases and richly- 

 sculptured urns. These, with the gateposts, are 

 a distinctive feature of the place, and add point 

 and character to the arrangements. For the rest, 

 the Bradfield gardens are radiantly beautiful, and 



