92 OUR GARDENS 



for not making their lodging an eyesore. It is all very 

 well when a large tract of ground can be turned, regard- 

 less of expense, into the semblance of .1 mountain gorge; 

 but there are few amateurs who command the means 

 and can apply the cultural knowledge indispensable 

 for the creation of such cyclopsean illusions as my 

 lamented friend Lord Redesdale called into being at 

 Batsford and the late Sir Frank Crisp at Friar Park. 

 Less ambitious in design, though little inferior to these 

 in scale, is the truly beautiful rock garden in Mr. 

 Frederick Godman's grounds at South Lodge, near 

 Horsham. It is not until you stand within it that you 

 become aware of the existence of a rock garden within 

 bowshot of the house. 



At the risk of appearing invidious, I must mention 

 one other rock garden as a conspicuous success that 

 which Sir John Stirling Maxwell has created round his 

 house of Corrour. The conditions here are exceptional. 

 The house stands 1250 above sea level, in the heart 

 of a deer forest. No need here for artificial piling of 

 stones ; simply the ground sloping from the house to 

 the lake has been planted with alpines, which luxuriate 

 in natural pockets among the granite boulders so 

 plentifully strewn upou the moorland soil. It is an 

 alpine scene, and nowhere in the United Kingdom 

 have I seen alpine plants seem so thoroughly at home. 



The truth is that rock gardens as too commonly 

 designed at present can never be other than eyesores 

 in a lowland landscape. If people would only believe 

 it, there is no position in which alpine flowers may be 

 grown, displayed, and enjoyed better than in the joints 



