BLITHFIELD. 163 



As you come into the park from the Uttoxeter-Abbot's- 

 Bromley turnpike, you canter by the side of the drive over 

 down-like turf, which rides springy and elastic in the 

 driest weather, till you come to the gate into Duckley 

 wood, lovely in the summer-time from its masses of 

 rhododendrons, and a sure find from cub-hunting till the 

 end of the season. The drive takes you on, with Stansley 

 wood on your right — another good fox covert — through 

 the undulating, beautifully timbered park, by what will 

 some day be a fine beech avenue, to the bridge over the 

 north fork of the Blithe. Thence under a charming over- 

 arching avenue of vigorous oaks to Blithmoor, and the 

 bridge over the southern fork of the river, whence you 

 ascend the hill to the house itself Looking back from 

 the eminence on which it stands, you seem to be gazing 

 into the depths of a vast forest, for the tops of the trees 

 of Blithmoor hide the space between it and Duckley wood, 

 which frinofes the horizon. A ha-ha divides the lawn in 

 front of the house from the park, in which stands a group 

 of noble oaks, older than the house itself, great thorns 

 and a wide-spreading Spanish chestnut. At the back of 

 the house are the gardens, a favoured haunt of foxes, and 

 the whole is backed by stately trees, which surround the 

 house and gardens on all sides except in the front. In 

 the gardens stands the church. The house itself is built 

 of stone, now of a very dark colour, and is wonderfully 

 picturesque on account of its quaint nooks and corners, 

 noble chimney stacks, and oriel windows, all of which give 

 an air of irregularity, which is in charming contrast to the 

 stiff, straight fagade of some houses. It is built round a 

 quadrangle, which not only adds to its beauty, but is a 

 sign of its great antiquity, for in old days a man's house 

 had often to be literally his castle.* The front of it is 

 covered with the foliage of the American creeper, which in 

 the autumn is a most lovely sight, showing crimson against 

 the old grey walls. Many a member of the hunt must 



* This w:i8 the case with Blithfield in the time of Charles I., when the 

 Parliamentarians besieged it. 



