THE 



GARDENER'S MAGAZINE 



FEBRUARY, 1835. 



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. X, p. 473.) 



The Grange, Alexander Baring, Esq. — August 1 9. The road 

 to this place, over a country of downs, is dreary, and very un- 

 interesting to a stranger. Andover, like an oasis in a desert, 

 is a neat and clean tov^^n, affording a good and cheap inn (the 

 White Hart) ; but there are several miserable heartless-looking 

 villages between that place and the long approach which leads 

 to the Grange. The house here, however, repays all the 

 trouble ; and we have not seen a mansion the external elevation 

 of which pleased us so much, since we commenced our tour. 

 The beauties of this place lie in a narrow winding valley, with a 

 small stream in the bottom, which spreads into a broad expanse 

 of water near the house. The latter is proudly situated on a 

 steep bank, supported by a grand architectural terrace, and that 

 again by a massive terrace of gravel and turf, with a third 

 smaller terrace, of the same materials, below. The main body 

 of the house is in the Doric style, with a portico at one end, 

 and a loggia with square columns on each side, by Wilkins ; 

 with a secondary mass, and a conservatory in the Ionic style, by 

 R. C. Cockerell. An elevation has been already given (I. fig. 11. 

 p. 106.); but it is on so small a scale, that it gives no adequate 

 idea of the simplicity, grandeur, and beauty of this mansion. 

 Scarcely any picture, indeed, can do justice to it: its temple- 

 like magnificence must be seen to be felt; and, indeed, it will 

 repay any one who has a taste for architecture, to travel a hun- 

 dred miles out of his way to see it. We shall never forget the 

 first impression made on us by the Doric portico, when we saw 

 it from the road to the kitchen-garden, on the bank forming the 

 Vol. XI. — No. 59. f 



