18 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN, October 13, 185. 
that no means of conveyance can he got at Claydon, 
hut abundance of all kinds at Ipswich. . 
So much has already been written of Shrubland lark 
in this work by a worthy coadjutor, the very best fitted 
from circumstances to do the subject justice, and so 
much has also appeared in contemporary journals, that 
I do not expect to be able to present anything new, or 
from a few hours’ visit any great fulness or even perfect 
accuracy in details ; but as different individuals look at 
objects from different points of view, and as many friends 
have already requested .to know r my impressions of 
Shrubland, I wish to place a few floating ideas and 
reminiscences of what I actually saw on record, not con¬ 
fining myself to the famed flower gardens, and even 
with respect to them dwelling little or nothing on t ien 
antecedents or the agencies used, partly because on these 
matters my knowledge must be imperfect, and paitiy 
because convinced that, however superior the aiclntec- 
tural and artistic skill employed, however great the 
abilities, and, what is more to the purpose, the never- 
satisfied enthusiasm of the different gardeners, yet the 
extended knowledge and refined taste of Sir llliam an 
his lady have been the presiding genii that evoked and 
constituted such a unique example of the Italian style 
in gardening. , . , , , . , 
On the opposite side of the road to the lodge by which 
you enter, going from Ipswich to Claydon, is a beautiful | 
Willow tree, the branches hanging so gracefully in 
repeated wreaths and folds as to be well worthy of j 
notice, and especially of those who consider that such ; 
a Willow can only be found in proximity to water. 
The approach winds gracefully by a gradual ascent to 
the mansion, thus giving to it the impression of dignity. 
The timber along this route was comparatively young; 
but I was pleased to notice some groups of Scotch Ins 
fine-grown Thorns, with masses here and there of 
Furze and Bracken, eliciting the ideas ol wildness and 
extent, and conjuring up the first promptings of the 
inquiry, repeated to myself afterwards on seeing the 
fine Thorns and masses of Fern in proximity to the left 
side of the noble mansion, “ Can the famed ^interest of 
Shrublands be at all owing to its contrasts?" In pass¬ 
ing a second lodge we obtained our first view of the 
mansion, and on our right descried signs that the gai- 
dens must be embosomed there, and ere long found Mr. 
Foffgo’s house ensconced inside the kitchen garden, with 
villages of pits and houses in its immediate vicinity—a 
matter of great importance in the superintendence of 
such a large establishment. Leaving these I would j 
take you along with our kind and courteous mend that 
I had never seen before, and first look at the floral and 
artistic marvels of the place. . i 
The mansion, turreted and castellated in its newer 
portions, is built with white bricks and fine white Caen 
stone, and is situated most happily at the extremity of a 
fine space of table land, where that slopes almost pre¬ 
cipitously into a narrow valley, the ground rising gra¬ 
dually on the opposite bank. The colour of the house 
and its splendid position have been the key notes to the 
system of gardening adopted. I am thus, perhaps, pi® 
maturely giving the reader an advantage; for if he stood 
with me as yet at the entrance front, which stands 
somewhat to the east, admiring the elegant entrance 
hall extending north and south of the doorway, ant 
furnished with large Ferns, fine Begonias, masses of Acln- 
menes, and other graceful and flowering plants in elegant 
vases, or looked up the main staircase, and found it 
transformed into an avenue of gorgeous plants, he could 
have seen nothing to lead him to imagine that the 
ground on the other or west side of the mansion was 
materially different from that he had just passed between 
the house and kitchen garden. Although I have pur¬ 
posely refrained from looking at previous accounts, I 
cannot forget that our friend Mr. Beaton told us that 
lady and gentleman visitors could not form the least 
idea where the flower gardens were until they saw them 
from the drawing-room windows. Not only is this the 
case, but another desirability of almost equal importance 
and too much neglected, has been thoroughly attended 
to • namely, that during the whole length of the approach 
no’ glimpse of the best views in the landscape can be 
obtained until the visitor gets to the said windows, or, 
like us, gets admitted to the conservatory front on the 
south side of the mansion, or the balcony garden on the 
west side. From the conservatory terrace a fine view is 
obtained of an undulating lawn, embellished with very 
fine specimens of Thorns, &c.; and from thence, and 
especially from the balcony garden, the eye sweeps over 
a hidden valley to rest upon a great extent of diversified 
undulated scenery, forming something of a miniature of 
the richer and more extended picture seen from the 
terrace at Sydenham. To the ladies at the window I 
presume there would be no hidden wonders in the valley 
on its banks, and this in some respects might be an 
advantage; whilst we on terra firma would also be able 
to think of our advantages in being enabled to take so 
many different matters of interest somewhat more 
leisurely and separately in detail. 
With these premises we now enter by the blue and 
golden gate (all the iron gates are painted blue and 
golden yellow), and find ourselves on the stone ten ace 
that fronts the conservatory. On the right as we enter 
a 
between the gate and the end of the conservatory is 
Box hedge, fronted with a tall row of the giant scailet ; 
Geranium, and that again fronted by a row of Punch. 
On the opposite side are large boxes of wood I think, 
and blue Chinese earthenware slabs let into the sines, 
and filled also with scarlet Geraniums. Along this 
terrace are numbers of vases and vessels of different 
shapes, but chiefly of blue china, and filled in a similai 
manner, the blue and the scarlet contrasting well with 
the light stone colour of the mansion and balustrades. 
I am not aware whether or not there is a direct com¬ 
munication between the mansion and conseivatoiy, 
though from the south-west corner of the building, where 
the Albert Tower is situated, protruding considerably 
further southward than the rest of the mansion, the end 
of the conservatory not only abuts against it, but a large 
window from one of the principal apartments commands 
a view of the conservatory and what is in it from end to 
end, the window-sill, and consequently the floor of the 
apartment, being, I should say, from six feet or more 
above the floor of the conservatory. Unless the flower¬ 
ing plants in pots are very large indeed they can be 
looked down upon, and their beauty fully seen from this 
end window. A great variety of setting and furnishing 
may therefore be indulged in. When the plants are to be 
seen from a glass doorway, the base of which is only a 
foot or so higher than the floor of the greenhouse, few 
methods of displaying will equal that adopted by Mr. 
Thompson, of Dyrharn Park, as recorded this summer. 
The example of this elevated window led me to think 
that in the case of lofty greenhouse conservatories 
attached to, and communicating with, the ground floor of 
the mansion, the presence of such a window in the 
apartment above, if capable of being made into a sitting 
room, would yield additional attractions from presenting 
the plants in a different aspect. 
The size of the conservatory I cannot now guess at, 
but it is lofty and large. The back, of course, being the 
end of the mansion, I presume is opaque, and so are the 
two ends. The roof is a sort of double-hipped, and 
nearly all glass, and the front is glass; and now we shall 
meet the old sashes elsewhere. The columns are covered 
with Passion-flowers, Tacsonias, Ipomaeas, Bignonias, 
&c. The l-pomcea Learii was clustering and dangling 
from the roof, and so were various kinds of Tacsonias 
and Passifloras, and also, so far as I recollect, Ste- 
