ROYAL GARDENS 



CLAREMONT GARDEN 



By Mr. J. KELLY, Head Gardener 



Historically, Claremont House and gardens are full of 

 interest and are associated with many of the chief personages 

 and events in the history of our country. Many famous 

 names are connected with Claremont, both as owners and 

 tenants. It has been the home of statesmen, warriors, princes, 

 kings and queens for two centuries. And no wonder, for its 

 charm, beauty and reposeful environment must have made a 

 peaceful haven for those who rested there from their strenuous 

 labours and anxieties. 



Lovely views can be had from elevated parts of the 

 estate. And from some such vantage-ground the impression 

 created by woods, glades and dells is, that here is a natural 

 garden, one for which man can claim but little credit in the 

 making. Nature has done so much in the way of providing 

 the ideal site — grassy slopes, swelling undulations, a soil in 

 which a wealth of species and varieties of plants have found 

 a home and are happy ; fine lawns, dotted with handsome 

 trees, and, a short distance away, dark woods that seem 

 almost primeval in their stateliness and beauty. The gardens 

 proper at Claremont lie to the north of the mansion-house, 

 and cover about six acres of ground. They are divided into 

 several parts by high walls and splendid hedges. And if 

 they do not present that spaciousness, which is characteristic 

 of many of the noted gardens of England, this is amply 

 compensated for by the delightful shade and shelter pro- 

 vided. For these hedges and walls have been planned with 

 such consummate skill that the visitor has many pleasant 

 surprises as he emerges from some archway cut out in a 

 century-old living wall of greenery, or turns the corner of a 

 shady pathway to be confronted with dazzling flower-beds, or 

 with rare trees such as can only be found at Claremont. 



As is to be expected, the garden, besides being a pleasure 



