richest and most effective geraniums. There are three divisions, reached by steps, and ornamented with 

 six richly-carved white marble urns. At the west end of the terrace is a small parterre, enclosed by a 

 Gothic balustrade, containing statues and carved seats, leading up a flight of steps to the Dairy, which 

 occupies a corner of the Italian garden. This building is of a dome-like form supported by massive 

 pines, over which some handsome climbing plants luxuriate, and form a cool and refreshing canopy. 

 The interior is richly decorated, and of a description far superior to what might be expected from the 

 character of the edifice. 



The Italian Garden is of considerable extent, elegant in design, and arranged with much judgment 

 and taste. The beds are principally in wrought Portland stone, of various shapes and dimensions, out 

 of which rise gorgeous clusters of bloom. At the termination of a broad gravel walk, down the centre, 

 stands the Conservatory, and a low stone wall, adorned with numerous regularly placed vases, forms the 

 boundary in another direction. Antique vases and rustic flower-stands are distributed at favourable 

 intervals in different parts of the garden, and contribute to its descriptive character. We next come to 

 the American garden, which is devoted chiefly to characteristic plants, arranged in the same manner as 

 flowers, in ribbon borders; each line being formed of a distinct colour, orange, pink, purple, &c, and 

 the background filled up with masses of remarkably fine rhododendrons. The effect produced by this 

 arrangement, from the number of plants used, is particularly striking and novel, and forms an example 

 which might be followed to advantage in man}'' other gardens. When these plants have bloomed, the 

 usual plans for the continuation of its floral aspect are followed, and numerous raised baskets of rustic 

 design filled with the gayest specimens are also placed in different parts of the garden. On the lawn 

 stands the " Great Oak," a title it bore so far back as 1709, and, from its healthy, vigorous appearance, 

 there is every probability of its continuing to flourish through many succeeding generations. Some few 

 years since, from the want of proper support, one of the lower limbs of this extraordinary tree fell off, 

 and produced more than a load of timber. Recently the soil on one side, which is a deep, rich loam, 

 sunk in a remarkable manner to the depth of forty feet; still the old tree flourishes on, its sturdy 

 branches covering a surface upwards of one hundred yards in circumference, and its hale green crown 

 forming a proud monument of nature, gilded by the sun's departing rays in the stern gray nakedness of 

 winter, and the gorgeous beauty of the summer's prime. This garden contains also a very fine specimen 

 of the Taxodium sempervirens. 



The walks in the woods within the iron fence are both numerous and extensive. Some lead by the 

 north front of the house to the Box Garden, a characteristic spot laid down from designs by " Anne, 

 Countess, Cowper," whose initials, various scrolls, Roman eagles, and other ornamental devices, form the 

 nucleus of its elegant and effective arrangement. The centre is occupied by a circular fountain, the 

 basin being supported by dolphins, from which numerous walks diverge, the intermediate spaces beino- filled 

 with variegated gravel. There are also several vases, urns, and statues of antique design, o'ershadowed 

 as it were by some excellent examples of fir and pine trees, and two remarkably fine specimens of 

 Cedrus deodara. 



These gardens are upwards of fifty acres in extent, and afford a great variety of picturesque and 

 charming scenery. The situation is very fine and commanding, and the whole district a succession of 

 hill and dale, where the dark green woods wave and nestle in the evening breeze, and the silvery stream 

 meanders on its course through fertile meadows towards that grand mysterious ocean where every river 

 meets. 



