SCOTTISH GAEDENS 



But you will hasten forward to view the garden 

 not that modern arrangement of parterres which 

 occupies the further end of the plateau, which, indeed, 

 is bright enough with roses and summer flowers within 

 a girdling yew hedge, fantastically carved according 

 to the archaic craft of toxidendry, but that other 

 garden to the west of the house where the ground falls 

 sheer to the sparkling Avon two hundred feet below, 

 whereof Mr. R. S. Lorimer has written 



" Barncluith is quite unlike anything else : a detailed 

 description can convey but little idea of its charm. It is the 

 most romantic little garden in Scotland. Lying on one side of 

 a great wooded valley, it is a veritable hanging garden. Four or 

 five terraces, one above the other, sticking on the side of a cliff 

 the general angle of which is about 55 degrees. Two little 

 summer houses ; great trees of scented box, and the flowers 

 gathered here you feel sure would be, not a bouquet, but a posy 

 such an atmosphere about the place. In the twilight or the 

 moonlight destinies might be determined in this garden." 



The risk would not be less, methinks, at high noon, 

 for there are alleys here and shaded bowers where 

 Sol at his meridian can never do more than temper 

 the green gloaming. It is not a garden wherein 

 children could be turned loose to play, for the terraces 

 are narrow little more than dizzy ledges with no 

 guardian rail or breastwork to break or prevent a fall. 

 The great extent of buttressed walls, with narrow 

 borders at the foot, offer the most fascinating field for 

 the enthusiast in horticulture. At present ivy runs 

 riot over far too much of the wall-space, which might 



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