L urcher-L a nd. 9 3 



CHAPTER VI. 



LURCHER-LAND : ' THE PARK.' 



THE time of the apple-bloom is the most delicious 

 season in Sarsen village. It is scarcely possible to 

 obtain a view of the place, although it is built on the 

 last slope of the Downs, because just where the 

 ground drops and the eye expects an open space 

 plantations of fir and the tops of tall poplars and 

 elms intercept the glance. In ascending from the 

 level meadows of the vale thick double mounds, 

 heavily timbered with elm, hide the houses until you 

 are actually in their midst. 



Those only know a country who are acquainted 

 with its footpaths. By the roads, indeed, the outside 

 may be seen ; but the footpaths go through the 

 heart of the land. There arc routes by which mile 

 after mile may be travelled without leaving the 

 sward. So you may pass from village to village ; 

 now crossing green meads, now cornfields, over 



