GARDENS ENCLOSED 21 
derelict manor house was repaired, and both house and 
grounds, including some magnificent walnut trees, added 
as an extra attraction to a very fine old country house, 
built on similar lines although of a later date. Around 
this a very pretty new garden was feelingly made, and 
it is now most convenient as a place for picnics, or as 
an open-air nursery for the children, while in winter its 
upper rooms are used to accommodate the overflow of 
bachelor sportsmen, or visitors from the big house 
beyond. No matter how grand and comfortable one’s 
ordinary residence may be, we all at times like a change, 
and like children perhaps, ‘‘make believe, hard,” that 
we enjoy simplicity and frugal fare in a hermitage, even 
though it be one near home! It seems like a little bit 
of Eden over again, and, in such a quiet and flowery 
little retreat we are apt to think we sleep and work 
better, or that in some cases that even our dreams come 
true! 
After all, the artist of either sex is always more or less 
a child, and who shall say that his or her whims and 
foibles, unknown, it may be, to hard-headed business 
men, are not assets more or less valuable to us all as 
a people? | 
One word more, and I have done; one charm of a 
garden, or of a garden-house, or mere shelter indeed, 
is that any one can make or form them at their own 
sweet will—each so as to suit and harmonise with its 
surroundings. Both enclosed gardens, and garden 
houses, are often better for being formed slowly and 
carefully with all due regard to local advantages, or 
soil or shelter and water-supply. This was the way 
many of our oldest and best of fine old country houses 
and gardens were formed. Owners who saw clearly 
what accommodation they wanted, and were likely to 
want later on! | 
A good master-builder, carpenters, and smith, all local 
