Caver sham Park, Basildon Park. 3 



the Thames, is one of very great beauty. The valley is about 

 half a mile in width, bounded on each side by chalk hills, ex- 

 hibiting the greatest variety of outline ; sometimes clothed with 

 grass, and at other times with corn or wood, or crowned by a 

 gentleman's seat. Near Purley is Purley Hall, a place of con- 

 siderable beauty, from the undulation of its surface, and the 

 judicious disposition of its woods. There are also some beautiful 

 cottages with gardens, and some small villas, both at Purley and 

 Pangbourne. 



Basildon Park, Sir Francis Sykes, Bart. — The house, a large 

 quadrangular pile with wings, by Carr of York, is placed on a 

 piece of table land on the top of a hill, and commands very 

 extensive views. The ascent to it is by a very steep approach, 

 which is both disagreeable and dangerous. We repeat here, 

 what we have frequently stated before, that in no possible case 

 need the road to a house be steeper than an inch to a yard. 

 The approach here might have been led to the house at that 

 rate with the greatest ease, and horses might have trotted up 

 and trotted down. There is but very little pleasure-ground, 

 and this is placed on one side of the house ; but the park and 

 farm are of considerable extent. The pleasure-ground has been 

 taken care of for many years past by a local labourer, of the 

 name of Hillsbury, who appears to have some natural taste for 

 laying out flower-beds. He showed us different scroll-like 

 shapes which he had laid out, and lamented his ignorance of the 

 names of plants and their culture. His master, he said, had 

 ordered him to collect some "fir apples" (cones), and sow the 

 seeds of them, and he would be glad to know the proper season 

 for doing so, with the manner of sowing, &c. This shows the 

 great necessity of gardeners being reading men, and possessing 

 books on the subject of their art. This man is doubtless an 

 honest and faithful servant, as he has held his present situation, 

 as he told us, nearly 30 years. The kitchen-garden is on the 

 side of a hill, facing the east, and contains upwards of four 

 acres, with an extensive range of hot-houses; the soil is ex- 

 cellent, and the crops abundant, but choked up with weeds, as 

 there is no assistance allowed for either the kitchen-garden or 

 the pleasure-ground, but a boy. The kitchen-gardener, who is 

 also a local labourer, we did not see. We observed heaps of 

 leaves and twias being burned, which we would never suffer 

 under any circumstances, as it is throwing away a certain portion 

 of valuable manure. We observed also a paling fence round a 

 part of. the pleasure-ground, with the pales, instead of being 

 placed vertically, nailed to the rails at an angle of 45°. The ob- 

 ject of this, we were told, is to prevent the entrance of rabbits, 

 which might get between upright pales at the same distance 

 apart, but which must necessarily place their bodies in an angular 



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