The Garden at “ Blair Eyrie” 
THE STABLE 
I he approach to the house by the long, 
deeply-shadowed drive from the Highbrook 
Road entrance, with its glimpses of distant 
blue mountains between the pines and over 
the characteristic-looking stone walls, grad¬ 
ually widens into a more extended view, 
having the glowing garden in the immediate 
foreground iust below, whence one arrives 
at the formal forecourt to 
the house. The ensemble 
thus formed was a delight 
to the eye, paving the way 
gently from rugged natur¬ 
alness to the intimate re¬ 
finements of art. 
I he grade was easily over¬ 
come by winding the drives 
sinuously from both road¬ 
ways along the slopes of the 
hills. 
At first the possibility of 
tbe garden proper seemed 
remote; but after careful 
study of the land a fairly 
level spot was found where 
no valuable trees existed, 
and by placing the path from 
the forecourt at an angle to 
the natural axis it was pos¬ 
sible to carry it down be¬ 
tween two beautiful pine 
trees which stand out so 
clearly in the illustration. If 
you will picture to yourself 
a perspective of high, pine- 
covered hills' on three sides, 
with the garden in a vale, 
the raison d' etre of leaving 
these two great trees at the entrance is 
evident, for they add a note of marked 
distinction to the prospect. A flight of 
steps, whose curvings are punctuated 
by glowing masses of rhododen¬ 
drons, lead away from the garden on 
the fourth side past two windings of 
the driveway, to the house. Picture 
to yourself, again, the gracious view 
of this flowering valley from these 
points of vantage, and with no little 
air of majesty does the house con¬ 
template the pretty bowl. 
The garden is not large. Its longer 
way, which is at right angles to the 
path which leads to it, is only ninety-one 
feet and its width is but fifty-four feet. 1 he 
tea-house is placed at the northern end not 
only to secure the benefit of the warm 
sun which is always grateful in that north¬ 
ern climate, but to form a view-point 
for distant vision of tbe pale blue moun¬ 
tains over the glowing foreground of flowers. 
VIEW FROM THE SOUTHERN END OF THE GARDEN 
J 74 
