WREST PARK, 



BEDFORDSHIRE. 



IT has been said of the county of Bedfordshire that 

 while Woburn and The I I<M> arc, perhaps, the 

 best known, Wrest is tar the most beautiful of 

 its country homes. That estimate is undoubtedly 

 correct. Wrest comes .is such a surprise to anyone 

 approaching it from any quarter, but especially from 

 the western side, that the effect is rendered more 

 impressive. The adjacent country is of the quiet, 

 featureless kind familiar to all who travel by the last 

 forty miles of the Midland Railway before reaching 

 London. There are few residences other than farm- 

 houses, few woods or streams or even pretty cottages. 

 But on reaching the pleasant old village of Silsoe an 

 astonishing change of scene takes place. The whole- 

 country to the east and north changes to parks, 

 avenues, gardens and woods, with groves, walks, 



alleys, yew hedges, pools, canals, statues, monuments, 

 terraces, bridges and pavilions the adjuncts of a very 

 stately house. There have been three great houses 

 at Wrest, e.u h on a different site, the present bring 

 the third. The trees and waters, statues and walks, 

 avenues and parks (there are two, one for deer and 

 another gra/.ed by cattle) represent many centuries of 

 growth, yet all are in perfection. The area, too, is 

 very great -there are seven miles of walks alone. 

 Vet all this beauty, which is cx.utly what the old 

 (ireeks meant by a "paradise," is so remote, and this 

 vast area, consecrated solely to the maintenance and 

 setting out ot all the beauty that Time, Art and Nature 

 can achieve in such an environment, is so apart from 

 the ordinary life of to-day, even in most country 

 districts, that did not the exquisite care of the flowers 





THE SOl'TH FACADE. 



