34 
House & Garden 
AN ENGLISH GARDEN IN SPRING 
Mathem Palace, A Home of 
JJ . Array Tipping 
\ 
MRS. FRANCIS KING 
In tulip time there is a glimpse 
of the old buildings for a back¬ 
ground, the happy use of trees 
and a fascinating foreground of 
tulips 
The grass alley is bordered by 
tulips and myosotis in beds, with 
hedges behind. This walk divides 
two gardens, a rose garden on 
the right 
Mathem Palace dates back thirteen hundred years. Now restored 
for modern living, it is further enriched by a garden that is cotinted 
a distinguished horticultural achievement. This view is of the 
quadrangle 
F OR those who cannot, or who will not 
travel, and whose gardening interests still 
leap across seas to other lands, substitutes in 
the way of photographs prove the alternative, 
supplemented, of course, by written descrip¬ 
tion. And since substitutes some of us must 
and will have, pictures of the type with which 
this writing deals are as near perfection as 
such things may be. 
Here, to the eye accustomed to finding color, 
light and shade in pictures, are these qualities 
in high degree. Here are shown forth a par¬ 
ticularly interesting ancient dwelling in Wales, 
and its gardens in the spring, Mathem Palace, 
for thirteen hundred years an episcopal resi¬ 
dence. 
In 1894, the property came into the hands 
of Mr. W. Avray Tipping, the distinguished 
English writer on architecture. Under his 
able direction, the conversion of the old house 
to meet the needs of modern living, tvas done 
without losing one whiff of the savor of an 
antique time. That Mr. Tipping is one of the 
best of amateur gardeners, too, one cannot 
doubt who sees these pictures and who has 
read of his later horticultural achievements at 
a newer place, Mounton House. 
In his own words, he thus tells briefly the 
story of the gardens of Mathern Palace. 
“If the house is essentially old, the gardens 
are absolutely new. The sordid untidiness of 
a hopelessly ill-contrived and unrepaired farm¬ 
stead prevailed in 1894. There was a potato 
(Continued on page 58) 
