THE 



FEBRUARY, 1834. 



ORIGINAL COMMUNICATIONS. 



Art. I. Notes on Gardens and Country Seats, visited, from July 27. 

 to September 16., during a Tour through Part of Middlesex, Berk- 

 shire, Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire, Wiltshire, Dorsetshire, Hamp- 

 shire, Sussex, and. Kent. By the Conductor. 



{Continued from Vol. IX, p. 683.) 



Caversham Park. — Aug. 9. We proceeded to this place 

 through the village of Caversham (in which are many beautiful 

 cottage gardens), up the hill road, and entered by the back ap- 

 proach. We must notice one of the cottage gardens, which has, 

 in two angles, formed by small wings projecting from the front 

 of the house, two Ismail green-houses in the form of outside 

 cupboards, with shelves full of pots of flowers, the glass doors 

 being removed. We had never seen anything of this kind before ; 

 and we like it, not that we think it in good taste, but because 

 it shows such a thorough love of plants. Every one who has 

 read the descriptions of the fine old places of England, in 

 Whately's Observations^ fyc., knows something of Caversham, 

 and therefore we shall say nothing of the magnificent mansion, 

 containing fifty rooms, and its broad gravelled terrace, 50 ft. 

 wide and a furlong in length, on a perfect level. Though the 

 mansion is dilapidated within, yet exteriorly it is in good repair. 

 The place is worth visiting for the grandeur and beauty of the 

 situation of the house, the terrace, and more especially the 

 descending approach, which has been so finely described by 

 Whately. The pleasure-ground scenery is now entirely over- 

 grown, and only to be recognised by a few cedars and other 

 trees. The kitchen-garden forms a deplorable ruin ; the walls 

 Vol. X. — No. 48. b 



