The Lady's Country Companion; Or, How to Enjoy a Country Life RationallyLoudon, Mrs. (Jane)
General
The Lady's Country Companion; Or, How to Enjoy a Country Life Rationally
Loudon, Mrs. (Jane)
Cooking; Country life; Home economics
You will see from these observations that there are styles marking
different periods in gardening, as well as in architecture; and, in
some cases, it is advisable to preserve a certain degree of similitude
between the style of the garden and that of the house. Of course,
however, this can only be done as far as is consistent with modern
comforts; and the fact of your house being partly Elizabethan does
not entail upon you the necessity of having a formal garden with high
clipped hedges, and trees cut into a thousand fantastic forms, any
more than it obliges you to sit in rooms darkened by stone mullions
and small-paned casements, because the courtiers of Queen Elizabeth
were obliged to submit to such inconveniences. With regard then to
the back-front of your mansion, I would leave the terrace in its
present form, with its stone alcoves at each end, as it corresponds so
well with the style of that part of the house which appears to have
been added in the reign of Anne or George I.; and I would preserve
and repair the stone balustrade with urns at regular intervals, and
the stone steps leading from the terrace, which are all in the same
style as the house; I would also have them lead into an architectural
garden below. The form of this garden should be quite regular, or, if
you prefer the term, quite formal; and it should be ornamented with
fountains, urns, and statues. The natural boundary of this garden is
the piece of water before alluded to, the borders of which should be
planted with a few tufts of shrubs to break, but not disguise, the
regularity of the outline. On the other side of the water these tufts
must be continued, but in a much wilder and more natural manner; and
here and there the plantation must take the character of a clump, and
consist of low trees, mingled with shrubs of the largest size. This
will unite the house and garden with the park scenery as regards the
view from the drawingroom windows, and on the side of the garden,
gravel walks may be carried on through the various scenery of the park,
a stone bridge being thrown over the water on the side nearest the
entrance-front; and, farther on, a rustic bridge may be thrown over the
stream in a situation where it is not seen from the house.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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