Some Old English Gardens 
By James Dickson, New York 
THE partial constancy of character found existing 
in garden-making from ancient times to the pres- 
ent — and the instances might have been many 
times multipHed — leads us to enquire what are the fea- 
tures and characteristics which have been found m well- 
designed gardens ? 
One notable point to be observed is that the garden 
must not only be appropriate to the house but to the 
situation in which it lies. What is sensible to the steep 
hillside will not befit the plain. What is right in the 
vicinity of a classic mansion would be out of place near 
one built in a more picturesque style. But, in truth, the 
garden world is inexhaustible in character and variety, 
for here the florist and the architect have had their com- 
mon ground, and here the craftsman in metal has found 
high opportunities of displaying his skill. But whatever 
be its individual character, the garden of our choice 
should look both orderly and rich and it should be well 
fenced from the outside world. 
There is abimdant room for individuality in garden 
work. The house is no dumb thing to the laborer in 
this field. It suggests to him a character and inspires 
him with the ideas of design. From its features he 
learns how to call the craftsmen in stone or metal to his 
aid. But the true lover of a garden will make a way 
for himself. He will reject nothing of floral beauty, 
which is, after all, the chiefest of the gardener's means 
and there will be no time of the year in which his garden 
is devoid of radiance. 
I can hardly begin with a better illustration of Old 
English gardens than that of Qevedon Court, Somerset, 
the seat of Sir Edmund H. Elton, Bart., which it was my 
privilege to visit on more than one occasion during the 
summer of 1906. The terraced character of the garden 
springs naturally from the soil lying as it does on the 
steep slope of a hill, the formality is such as appeals to 
the eye. The design at Clevedon embodies at least two 
of the main distinctions of old gardens. The place has 
subdivision and change of level ! there are walls and 
hedges, umbrageous masses and fine individual trees, but 
the beauty of the place consists largely in the purely 
domestic nature of the garden. 
Its successive terraces belong, as we might say, to cul- 
tured leisure and afford scope to all that fancy may sug- 
gest in distribution of flower beds or the character of the 
borders. Clevedon Court is a standing and visible proof 
of the merit of an old garden. 
This beautiful land of Somerset by the Severn river 
has many a noble home and radiant garden within its 
bounds. Hill and hollow, wood and meadow, the tangled 
brake and heathery moor, the orchard richly fruited and 
the green corn yellowing for the sickle all summer long, 
villages nestling in the hollows with thatched roofs, the 
lanes where the roses hang overhead from the hedges, 
tall elms and beeches, full in their leafage or bare but 
beautiful when October has blown. This is the Somerset 
land. The house is a wonderful architectural pile in this 
green and glorious setting. Here are parts of the man- 
sion that stood in Edwardian days, when the warder 
kept watch at heavily buttressed and portcullised door. 
There exists still the winding stairways by which the 
watchmen ascended to the outlook towers, the chapel in 
which the olden worshippers knelt. Fire dealt unkindly 
with the west front in 1882, but tasteful hands have made 
all good again, and nature has lent her aid, so that now 
•Read before Southampton, N, Y., Horticultural Society. 
the fine old place is vested with luxuriant creepers, myrtles 
climbing almost to the gables and thickly blossoming mag- 
nolias and fragrant roses adorning the walls. Just as 
such places should be, beautiful but not concealed. 
The configuration of the land dictated the special 
form, and we may go far indeed before we find terraces 
so beautiful as these which are the chief charm of Cleve- 
don Court. There are terraces above and below, for the 
house stands in the midst of the steep slope and the effect 
is doubly charming. 
The artistic merits of a terrace have been disputed by 
some gardeners, but they cannot be gainsaid when they 
are displayed in such a situation and manner as we dis- 
cover here. 
Mossy and picturesque walls support these fine terraces. 
Clevedon is a leafy place with masses of foliage garland- 
ing everything with richness, and flowers are always 
abundant and contrast their splendor with the dark hues 
of conifers and evergreens. Arches of roses perfume 
the air as we walk along, vases of fragrant flowers flank 
the pathway, and tall yews cast their shadows over the 
greenest of turf. 
Clevedon Court, in the general character of its gardens, 
is scarcely excelled in England and few places are more 
beautiful than this delightful Somerset home. 
Longford Castle, Wiltshire, the seat of the Earl of 
Radnor, built about the year 1600, possesses one of the 
most interesting gardens in England. Lying in a very 
fine country and overlooking a noble English park, in 
which beech, oak and many other trees are seen, relieved 
by the sombre green of conifers and pines. The charms 
of the gardens are principally due to the zeal, taste and 
knowledge of the Earl and Countess of Radnor. To 
create such a garden, knowledge and love of nature must 
combine. During recent years the gardens of Longford 
have been greatly beautified and the floral wealth of the 
garden has been vastly increased. There is, for example, 
a feature of interest to lovers of hardy flowers in the two 
mixed borders, each 100 yards long and presenting their 
pleasing aspect almost throughout the year. 
The design of the flower garden is statelv and formal, 
composed of geometrical beds, in which are pansies and 
many other of the old-fashioned flowers. Here again we 
have the terraced walks of the true old English character 
and many places of quiet sequestered charm. 
There are hardy ferneries at Longford, to remind us 
how beautiful is the fern when rightly used. Longford 
is also rich in greenhouses filled with decorative and other 
choice plants, and it worthly maintains its position among 
the finest fruit gardens in England. 
Lilleshall, Shropshire, the seat of Duke of Suther- 
land, is situated in the glorious district of middle Eng- 
land, which is rich in country homes and monastic re- 
mains, is not to be compared with Trentham, the Duke 
of Sutherland's other and still more stately abode not so 
far away, but there is this distinction, however, to be 
observed between them, that Trentham lies low in the 
valley while Lilleshall is raised aloft on the hill, and 
surveys from its terrace garden the lovely country 
through many a fading mile, imtil, far off, the mountains 
of W'ales are lifted into view. That is something, indeed, 
to add to the delight of a garden foreground. 
The spacious pleasure grounds, with which we are con- 
cerned, were laid out when the house was built about 
1839. Including the comparatively small vegetable gar- 
den, they cover about 28 acres and are the foreground 
and gem of a great panorama. 
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