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ROYAL GARDENS 



became the private property of the Crown, It was, however, 

 most carefully and completely restored by Queen Victoria and 

 Prince Consort, and has ever since been retained by the 

 Sovereign. Near the entrance to Barton Manor there is a 

 most interesting grove of Cork Oak (Quercus Suber). 

 Neither in size or number can the specimens here be 

 equalled anywhere else in England. With their deeply 

 crinkled bark and grey-green foliage they form a delightfully 

 picturesque and shady introduction to the charming old 

 manor-house. 



When His late Majesty King Edward VII. made his 

 magnificent gift of Osborne to the nation, orders were 

 given that those rooms which had been in the personal 

 occupation of Queen Victoria were to be specially reserved 

 and reverently kept in the same state they were in at her 

 death. In this and in many other ways Osborne and its 

 grounds are full of memorials of the great and beloved Queen 

 who for so many years made the place her favourite home. 

 Here it was she died ; and from here, between the solemn 

 trees of the avenue she had planted long before, she set out 

 on that wonderful last voyage of all. No Englishman can 

 ever forget the mournful and majestic progress through that 

 other grand avenue, her Empire's battleships ; nor the final 

 scene at Westminster, and that at Windsor, where the mother 

 of her people was laid to rest beside him, the memory of 

 whom had made Osborne, for over forty years, a sacred and 

 cherished home. 



OSBORNE 

 THE GROUNDS AND GARDENS 

 By Mr. GEORGE NOBBS, Head Gardener 



The Osborne estate, which was purchased in 1845 by Her 

 late Majesty Queen Victoria, contains 1951 acres. The beauti- 

 ful grounds, with their miles of seaboard, make one of the 

 most interesting sights to be seen in the Isle of Wight. The 



