THE 



GARDENER'S MAGAZINE, 



APRIL, 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 p. 7.) 



NuNEHAM COURTENAY, a Seat of the Archbishop of York, is a 

 place which has long been celebrated. We first saw it in 1804, 

 when we visited it in the course of our walking tour. The 

 orangery, and the flower-garden laid out by Mason, were then 

 in great perfection. The roof, front, and two ends of the orangery 

 were movable ; and the orange trees, being planted in the soil, 

 when the frame was removed, and the ground turfed over, 

 appeared as if growing in the open lawn. The trees were then 

 in vigorous growth, and covered with flowers and fruit. These 

 trees no longer exist, having been destroyed, partly through 

 the difficulty of heating the house in the winter season ; but 

 chiefly, as report states, through the carelessness of the gar- 

 dener, who succeeded the worthy old man who had charge of 

 them in 1804 1 . The present gardener, Mr. Brodie, informed 

 us that he had seen pieces of the trunks of these trees nearly 

 1 ft. in diameter. The flower-garden is now overgrown with 

 elms and other common trees ; the number of the flower-beds is 

 reduced, and the shapes of most of those remaining have been 

 altered. The covered seats are either removed, or in a dilapi- 

 dated state, and the same may be said of the statues, busts, and 

 therms. Nevertheless, we recognised the scene at once, by the 

 three low arched entrances of a small summer-house. This 

 spot is no longer fit for growing flowers, from its being now 

 too much under the shade of lofty trees. Extensive architectural 

 alterations have been made in and about the house and offices, 

 and improvements in the kitchen-garden have just been com- 

 menced, by doing first what is too frequently left to be done 

 Vol. X. — No. 49. h 



