36 



Gardens for Small Country Houses. 



CHAPTER v.— A GARDEN IN WEST SURREY. 



Poor Soil — No Definite Plan — Paved Court with Tank and Steps — Colour in Flower- 

 borders — Woodland Paths — Thunder-house. 



FIFTEEN acres of the poorest possible soil, sloping a little down towards the 

 north, in the Surrey hills. A thin skin of peaty earth on the upper part, 

 with a natural growth of heath, whortleberry and bracken, where a wood 

 of Scotch fir had been cut some twelve years before ; the middle part a chestnut 

 plantation, the lower, a poor, sandy field with a hard plough-bed about eight inches 

 down. These were the conditions that had to be considered and adapted as well 

 as might be to the making of a garden. In the upper, heathy part, seedlings of 

 many kinds of trees were springing up, now fair-sized examples of twenty-five years' 

 growth. As time went on they had to be severely thinned and at the same time 



thrown into carefully-con- 

 sidered groups, one kind of 

 tree at a time being given 

 pre-eminence. A clearing in 

 the chestnut copse gave 

 space for the future lawn, 

 house and near garden. The 

 lower ground was deeply 

 trenched and heavilv 

 manured for many years, 

 and is now a productive 

 kitchen garden. Much of the 

 ground had to be laid out, in 

 some kind of way, before it 

 was known where the house 

 was to stand, with the resdt 

 that there are portions that 

 meet at awkward angles. In 

 fact, there was no definite 

 planning at the beginning. 

 Various parts were taken in 

 hand at different times and 

 treated on their individual 

 merits, and the whole after- 

 wards reconciled as might 

 most suitably be contrived. 

 The only portion with a 

 definite plan is a small paved 

 court between two wings of 

 the house and a double 

 flight of steps enclosing a 

 tank, all forming one 



FIG. 42. — THE TANK AND STEPS. VIEW POINT 

 GENERAL PLAN (fIG 44). 



B ON 



