GARDEN DESIGN. 



567 



gardener as an accomplished fact. This may be due to the anxiety 

 of the former that his house shall be approached in such a manner 

 as to give the best possible architectural effect. It is a very 

 natural desire, but when the thoughts of the architect are centred 

 upon the house, as they generally are, the opportunities for making 

 the most of the intermediate ground may be neglected. 



The expert garden designer will enter fully into the desire of the 

 architect and will not forget that the house is the intended destination 

 of the carriage drive. He will therefore take his inspiration from 

 the building, and by appropriate treatment will try to prepare the mind 

 of the visitor for the pretensions of the house. 



Too often a carriage drive is treated as a piece of roadway of which 

 the sole purpose is to connect the front door of the house with the main 

 road. Dense shrubberies shut it in on both sides, through which 

 the eyes of the visitor are unable to penetrate. This is often an 

 unnecessary measure for the preservation of privacy, and many fine 

 opportunities for interesting treatment are thrown away. 



The carriage drive may be in reality the principal walk on the 

 estate, so that every endeavour should be made to ensure its attractive- 

 ness to the owner and visitor alike. 



Naturally no hard-and-fast rules can be laid down, and it is necessary 

 to distinguish between the extent of different establishments. 



In this respect there is a curious contrast between an approach to 

 many a weather-beaten ancestral home lying in the heart of a beautiful 

 old park, and the drive leading to a new mansion enclosed in smaller 

 grounds which bear no such evidence of age. With the former there 

 is generally a tradition to maintain a simplicity which is almost 

 affectation. A narrow drive, in many places not more than 10 feet 

 wide, runs modestly through a park filled with magnificent trees, and 

 diverts its course only to find an easier gradient, or to avoid a monster 

 oak or group of other aged trees. This is not an unusual kind of 

 approach to the dull but serviceable forecourt of many fine old piles 

 of masonry. The north side of such a home is generally kept carefully 

 free from the bright colours of garden decoration, and embellished only 

 with a few stone ornaments, time-worn and yellow with lichen. The 

 front door looks out upon a stretch of park ] and in which deer may 

 be seen browsing in the distance. All the fine gardens are on the 

 sunny sides of the house. This rural simplicity, which never seems 

 mean or paltry, is strictly in keeping with the traditions of the place, 

 and has continued for centuries. On the other hand, very few new 

 mansions possess sufficient maturity to enable them to emulate such 

 dignified simplicity. This is especially the case when the ground through 

 which the drive takes its way lacks the sympathetic association of an old 

 park. Not only do these houses require more ostentatious carriage drives, 

 but they often demand ambitious elaboration in their surroundings. 



The lodge and entrance gates should be treated as part of the 

 establishment and not as belonging to a main road. On this theory 

 the lodge will be placed squarely with the carriage drive. This 



