EXAMPLES OF GARDEN DESIGN. 



Mountain East of the main part of the house, known as the Garth, and in the centre of which 

 Home. stands the dovecote shown in illustration No. 233. As will be seen from the plan, a 



pergola runs all round it, which, however, had not become covered at the time when 

 the illustration just referred to was made. It is quite curious to see the delight of the 

 more discriminating of the hundreds of visitors who come to see these gardens, when, after 

 being shown all round the other portions of the grounds, they are suddenly introduced, 

 by the opening of a door in the back wall of a pergola, to this new feature, which 

 strikes exactly the note required to complete the composition, with its quiet air of 

 seclusion and shelter from bleak winds, its cooing doves, and the rippling reflections in 

 the little basin at the base of their cote to give a sense of brightness and freshness. 



There are doves and pigeons everywhere, and their introduction was a very happy 

 thought, giving, as it does, a sense of life and habitation and fluttering movement to this 

 domain among the solitary fells. They will be seen in several of the illustrations, and two 

 of the smaller dovecotes, quaintly roofed square erections, are shown in the background 

 of illustration No. 424. In the accompanying photograph of the tower and loggia, which 

 punctuate the Northern extremity of the grounds, an arched opening with a screen 

 containing pigeon holes will be found in the centre of the photograph and another to 

 the extreme right, and as will be seen on reference to the plan, these form a part of 

 a long series of such openings which grace this enclosing wall and relieve its bare face 

 from monotony. 



The planting of this garden was, of course, a special problem in itself, which could 

 only be solved by many experiments. Everyone interested expressed the decided opinion 

 that nothing whatever except the native heather would or could be got to grow by any 

 means whatsoever. However, such Job's comforters have been abundantly proved to be 

 wrong, and now considerably over one hundred and fifty thousand trees and shrubs have 

 been planted and are doing well, principally, of course, such things as pines and broad- 

 leaved hollies, while rock plants, among which the various saxifrages are conspicuous, 

 adorn the rough stonework in the walls, steps and pergolas. The hardiest climbing 

 roses have done surprisingly well, though, of course, the season is very late in these as 

 in other things, and, at the time the photograph of the summer-house in illustration 

 No. 421 was taken, a Dorothy Perkins rose was providing a most beautiful colour 

 contrast against the grey stone and roof and the purple heather, which made one feel 

 acutely the limitations of ordinary photography. 



In several places, in forming the gardens, the native rock has been laid bare, and in 

 one case a little cave has been constructed in a very natural manner, while, at another 

 place, the presence of a tiny mountain rill has been taken advantage of to form a rocky 

 waterfall with a series of large pools below. 



The way in which the exceptional nature of the site has been taken advantage of 

 to justify original treatments, which, though they would no doubt appear bizarre in other 

 cases, fall naturally into their place in their rugged surroundings, is forcibly shown in the 

 photograph of the bridge connecting the grounds with Rivington Park, which, as already 

 stated, has been given to the public by Sir William Lever. 



This example shows, more clearly perhaps than any other, the necessity of adapting 

 the gardens to the conditions prevailing on the site, instead of commencing their design 

 and construction with preconceived ideas as to what is right and proper or what 

 should be included. The result could not have been so satisfactory both to the 

 Author and his Client had not each feature incorporated in the scheme been the 

 logical outcome of an endeavour to meet a felt need in the simplest and most efficient 

 manner, coupled with the endeavour to strike a homely local note by the use of 

 those materials abounding in the site and to employ them in the manner to which 

 their physical properties best fitted them. 



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