HousesGarden 
Vol.I DECEMBER, igoi No. 7 
THE HOUSE-FROM THE LAWN 
GLENCOT 
GLENCOT 
A MODERN ENGLISH HOUSE AND GARDEN. 
Designed by Ernest George & Peto , Architects. 
G LENCOT is situated in Somerset, Eng¬ 
land, at the foot of the Mendip Hills 
which run across the northern part of the 
county from east to west. Rising abruptly 
from low moorlands, which once belonged 
to the sea and which now lie practically at 
its level, the hills reach a height of about a 
thousand feet, and from the broad plateau of 
their tops one commands a wide expanse of 
country in looking toward the Devonshire 
Hills and Exmoor, the land of the Doones. 
The southern slopes of the Mendip Hills 
are full of caves wonderful with stalactites 
and stalagmites ; and the stream, which feeds 
the mills below Glencot, disappears from 
view near its source on the heights, appears 
again as a pool in the great caverns on the 
hillside, and then bursts from its subterranean 
course just above Glencot, and becomes a 
quiet English stream. Standing amid the 
gorse and heather on the wild moorland above 
one seems far away from the business of 
modern England and far removed from the 
tamed and cultured landscape which one 
associates so intimately with English scenery. 
But the lowlands give once more the familiar 
scene of good roads, fine trees, neat cottages 
with gay gardens and smooth stretches of 
green lawn. Besides these, are tall factory 
chimnies which mean modern activity. 
I was very familiar with all these surround¬ 
ings before I went to Glencot to study more 
carefully the house and grounds ; but often 
as I had passed by on the level or looked 
down from the heights, I had never really 
known the place, because like all English 
country houses, it is screened as much as 
possible from the public. The house itself 
was built some eight or nine years ago by 
Messrs. Ernest George & Peto, (now Ernest 
George & Yeates) and although not what 
might be called one of their important 
works, it is fully as interesting as some of 
their larger places, because of the exacting 
limitations of the site. If there is any one 
thing in which English architects are pre¬ 
eminent it is certainly the designing of coun¬ 
try houses, for this is a study which, on 
1 
