House & Garden 
A SOMERSET MILL. 
By R. Clipston Sturgis. 
T EIE simplest of materials wisely used will 
often give the most charming results. 
I'o these the practical requirements of a 
rural industry are frequently favorable. How 
happily this is shown in the mill at Wells, 
Somersetshire. The mill and the miller’s 
house stand on an irregular piece of ground 
nearly surrounded by a winding lake. The 
House is on the edge of The Mill-stream , 
and The Mill , overhanging the stream, ad¬ 
joins the house, the two forming a single 
budding. I he storehouse stretches away to the 
north, and sheds enclose the yard where the 
carts deliver their corn and receive their flour. 
1 he mill-stream goes under the garden and 
the lake, and one hears faintly the dull roar 
as it runs through its long tunnel. It seems 
odd that it was not allowed to run open 
through the garden, and to add its sparkle 
and ripple to the beauty of that irregular little 
spot. Probably the miller cared more for a 
lew feet of sod than he did for the water or 
the effect it might have added to his ground. 
I he garden is divided to correspond with 
the business and home parts of the building : 
the kitchen-garden in front of the mill, The 
Flower Garden in front of the house. They 
are separated, not by a wall or hedge, but by 
fine old espalier pear-trees, which, on the May 
morning when the photographs were taken, 
were full ol bloom. All the buildings are of 
the usual Somerset rubble, covered with 
rough-cast washed with a cream-coloured lime 
wash, the house having its angles and lintels 
picked out with a darker colour. The gardens 
are surrounded by a low brick wall capped 
with stone, and the garden gate with stone 
THE HOUSE 
posts is flanked within by two good box 
trees. 
The path is flagged with turf, and on either 
side are round flower beds. Against the wall 
and in front of the espalier trees are beds of 
roses and perennials. Small yews flank the 
door, and there are more flowers against the 
house. The kitchen-garden has the same 
border of flowers against the wall, but the 
rest of the space is occupied with vegetables. 
A stile, with stone steps, leads from the yard 
into the kitchen-garden. The whole area is 
a scant three hundred and fifty square feet, 
but all is judiciously laid out and made use 
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