HOUSE 69. Variegated Prickly Holly. 70. Siberian Arbor Vitæ. 71. Magnolia grandiflora (Exmouth variety, to be partially trained to the wall). 72. Mahonia fascicularis (partially trained to wall). 73. Common Holly. To render the account of this place more complete, several sections, (124 to 128,) are now added, by which the various levels SECTION A Fig. 124. will be distinctly seen, and the shaping of the ground become more intelligible. The scales to these sections are attached to SECTION B Fig. 125. the last of them, fig. 128, and the vertical scale has been made twice as large as the horizontal one, for additional clearness. It SECTION C Fig. 126. will be apparent from the sections that the kitchen-garden is WIRE FENCE WIRE FENCE WIRE FENCE HOUSE BOUNDARY OF FRUIT GARDEN about eighteen inches higher than the entrance court,-a circumstance that was purely unavoidable, and is of no practical moment. The bank by which the public path is shut off from the pleasure-grounds, and the way in which that path is sunk at the same point, will further be made manifest. It will be evident, too, that the pleasure-grounds are divided from the field by a wire fence, which, being light, and several feet below the level of the house, will be virtually overlooked from the windows. The terrace-garden (fig. 129) which I have now to describe, was designed for a romantic situation in Miller's Dale, Derbyshire, and is at Cressbrook, the residence of Henry McConnel, Esq. The house (1) stands almost on the edge of a steep declivity, clothed with old forest trees, the tops of which rise up 100 SECTION F PUBLIC PAТИ WIRE FENCE and mingle with the ornamental parapet wall. This wall is built partly on the sloping bank, and the plateau between it and the house is valued as being the only level piece of ground anywhere in the neighbourhood. A pleasant stream winds along the valley at the base of the bank, and a bare grassy hill rises abruptly from it on the other side. The object of the design was to produce such a combination of flowers and shrubs as would suffice to clothe and decorate the platform, without materially interfering with its size, or marring the picturesqueness of the outlying portions of the scene; while at the same time, it was sought to give such an amount of regularity and symmetry to the arrangement of the beds, as the artificial character of the terrace, and the nature of its circumscribing wall appeared to demand. Each of the principal windows of the entertaining rooms of the house (which is in the Tudor style) has a flower-bed in front of it; these rooms lying on the east, south, and west sides. The offices (2) are to the west of the house, and they are partially concealed, while their effect in regard to grouping is improved, by a handsome conservatory, (3,) of which the plan contains a suggestion for the interior arrangement. It was proposed to divide the space into beds, edged with a neat kerbstone, and broken by vases and specimen plants. And the grating along the front, on the outside, is for admitting air, which would pass over the heating pipes. At 4 and 5 are a small hot-house and propagating house, to assist in supplying the conservatory and flower-garden. The borders (6) are for select and rare flowers, and for receiving climbing plants, which would be trained against the higher walls behind them, that at 8 being about six feet high. The figures 7 indicate the course of a very superior perforated parapet wall, in the style of the house, and a stone seat, stopping the terrace walk, and yielding a view of the larger part of the garden, conservatory and house, is placed at 9. An entrance-court, with retaining walls about four feet high around it, and having a steep bank clothed with patches of heather and American plants round the outer sides, is partially shown at 10, and the approaches are from both the north-east and the west. This court, and the chief rooms of the house, are from eight to ten feet above the level of the terrace-garden; but there is a billiard-room and garden-door on the same level as the terrace. On the east side of the house, where, from the contour of the shelving bank below, the terrace is contracted, and takes the shape of a large recess, is a detached flower-garden or parterre, bounded by walks, with a few specimen plants interspersed among the flower-beds. The figures of reference will sufficiently elucidate the remaining portions of the plan. Cressbrook is not, perhaps, in the wildest part of Miller's Dale, and, from the narrowness of the valley, and the loftiness of the opposite hill, the view from it is limited. But its position is a really interesting one; and as the Dale is little known, in consequence of its only being accessible by a footpath, it may be well to hint that the lovers of the picturesque will find in it some very unique scenes; the rocks, especially, assuming a massiveness and a character quite peculiar to this locality. |