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THE LIBRARY

OF

THE UNIVERSITY
OF CALIFORNIA

LOS ANGELES

GIFT OF
Florence Yoch

FLORENCE YOCH, LANDSCAPE ARCHITECT

NEW PLACE HASLEMERE
AND ITS GARDENS

NEW PLACE FROM THE LILY POND

NEW PLACE
HASLEMERE
AND 000
ITS GARDENS

WITH A FRONTISPIECE IN COLOUR
AND TWENTY OTHER ILLUSTRATIONS

PRINTED FOR PRIVATE CIRCULATION

1921

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

PAGE

PLACE FROM THE LILY POND . Frontispiece
From a Water Colour Drawing by Walter Tyndale

THE ENTRANCE COURT ...... i

THE SOUTH FRONT FROM THE LOWER GARDEN . . 2

THE SOUTH FRONT FROM THE UPPER TERRACE . . 3

THE ENTRANCE TO THE HERBACEOUS GARDEN . . 4

THE FOUNTAIN IN THE HERBACEOUS GARDEN . . 5

THE FRENCH PEASANT IN THE HERBACEOUS GARDEN 6

THE ITALIAN GATES ...... 7

ABUTILON VITIFOLIUM ON THE WEST WALL . . 9
THE PERGOLA . . . . . . . .11

IN THE SMALL ROCK GARDEN ..... 12

IN THE WILD GARDEN ...... 13

THE SMALL ROCK GARDEN ..... 14

THE LILY POND ....... 15

FOXGLOVES AND PEONIES ..... 17

THE LONG ROCK GARDEN ..... 18

PRIMULA JAPONICA IN THE JAPANESE GARDEN . 19

THE RHODODENDRON WALK ..... 20

ENTRANCE TO THE JAPANESE GARDEN . . .21

IN THE JAPANESE GARDEN ..... 22

THE JAPANESE TEA HOUSE ..... 23

1.32-1859

THE ENTRANCE COURT

NEW PLACE HASLEMERE
AND ITS GARDENS

IN New Place, Sir Algernon and Lady
Methuen have built themselves not a
" lordly pleasure house " but a charm-
ing country home, of which the gardens form
an integral and very important part. I say

" gardens " advisedly, for there are really a
series of enclosures each one complete in

THE SOUTH FRONT FROM THE LOWER GARDEN

itself and yet leading one to another, and so
forming a perfectly harmonious whole. It is
a case of "gardens in gardens".

[2]

The house, designed by Mr. Charles
Voysey, is a charming specimen of his art
and stands nearly 700 ft. above the sea level,

THE SOUTH FRONT FROM THE UPPER TERRACE

on the slopes of Hindhead. It is in white
roughcast with a grey-green roof, and blends
delightfully with the elaborate formal gardens
immediately in front of it. These gardens with

[3]

THE ENTRANCE TO THE
HERBACEOUS GARDEN

[4]

their wealth of
walls were part
of the architect's
design : the other
gardens were
added by Sir
Algernon and
Lady Methuen.
We ought to
say here, in gene-
ral, that at New
Place the most
has been made
of difficult condi-
tions. Owners
of gardens at
Haslemere can
be congratulat-
ed on the lovely
scenery that sur-
rounds them, but
they must also be

pitied for
the very
unpromis-
ing soil in
which they
have to
grow their
shrubs and
fl o we r s.
The soil of
most of the
gardens on
Hindhead
is pure
sand and,
though
much can
be done to
enrich it,

it is quite impossible to change it into
loam or limestone. It is therefore only by

[5 ]

THE FOUNTAIN IN THE HERBACEOUS
GARDEN

superhuman exertions that you can grow good
roses and those plants, shrubs and fruit trees

which require a sub-
stantial soil.

The formal gardens
of New Place are built
at right angles to the
house on a succession of
terraces facing west, and
most of the paths are
paved with stones from
old Christ's Hospital.
And here the mind and
heart of the owners are
plainly traceable in the
perfect way in which
the formal gardens next
THE FRENCH PEASANT IN to the house gradually
THE HERBACEOUS GARDEN merge into the in-
formal and wild parts further down the

slopes.

[6]

The upper garden, well above the house,
is quite formal and is enclosed by a red
brick wall. It is devoted to herbaceous plants
and has a small round pond with a lead fountam-

THE WROUGHT-IRON ITALIAN GATES

statue, by Mr. R. F. Wells. There is an-
other charming bronze by the same artist of a
French peasant woman in this garden. By
an iron gate the bowling green is approached,

[7]

This is shut off from the tennis lawn above
it by a most effective red brick arcading and
fine Italian wrought-iron gates. These
gates are more than two centuries old and
came from the fine old house of Athel-
hampton, in Dorset. The view of the tennis
lawn enclosure through the gates and arcad-
ing is most attractive. Azara Microphylla,
a hardy shrub with dark finely divided ever-
green foliage, is here rightly used against the
brick pillars — and on the south wall by the
tennis lawn many fine plants of Romneya
Coulteri are flourishing.

From the bowling green, with its very
original arbour, you descend to the grass
terrace overlooking the wealth of colour m
the lower gardens and with a fine though
restricted view of the South Downs : then
by more steps to the lower garden immediately
under the house. This is a quadrangle with a
.sundial resting on a pillar from the balustrade

[8]

of old London Bridge in the centre of its green
sward and with Junipers at the corners. On
the east side is a high retaining wall clothed

A ,

• • - , - -

ABUTILON VITIFOLIUM ON THE WEST WALL

with many beautiful shrubs, chief of which I
would mention Abutilon Vitifolium, which on
June 24th was in full flower and the centre

[9]

of a most artistic group, of which Anchusa
Opal, a double white Chinese Paeony and a
pale blue Delphinium made up the com-
ponent parts. The pale mauve flowers of
the Abutilon against the cool grey wall, and
the blues and white of the other flowers
made a beautiful and refreshing picture on
that blazing midsummer day — a picture that
will ever remain in my mind as a perfect
bit of flower grouping. On the opposite
side is a long narrow border filled with
Nepeta Mussini and Anchusa Opal —
another lovely colour scheme worth noting.

Altogether this lower garden, so refresh-
ingly restful in colour and design, seems just
right under the windows of the house. One
comes upon it also from the drive through
two other old Italian gates and down a steep
flight of stone steps, the sides hung with
Rose Felicite et Perpetue.

Robinia Hispida (the Rose Acacia) with
[ 10]

its pink flowers trained on a light green
trellis is most effective against the white wall
of the house. On the walls of the lower

THE PERGOLA

garden are Escallonia Langleyensis, Escallonia
Phillippiana, Sophora Grandiflora, Sophora
Tetraptera, Hydrangea Scandens, and a
fine specimen of Fremontia Californica with

its beautiful
yellow blos-
soms.

Fromthis
garden you
pass into the
small Rose
garden en-
closed by
walls and a
battlemented
yew hedge.
Here fine
plants of
P h 1 o m i s
Fruticosaare
flourishing

on the top of the retaining wall. Thence you
descend to the small Rock garden, Pergola,
Wild garden, Pond garden, second Rock
garden and Japanese garden.

[ 12]

IN THE SMALL ROCK GARDEN

IN THE WILD GARDEN

[ 13]

THE SMALL ROCK GARDEN

The
Wild gar-
den con-
sists of a
loner grass

o o

slope, fac-
ing west,
in which
groups of
silver bir-
ches are
mingled
with beds
of flower-
ing shrubs
and ramb-
ling roses.
Much

of

the beauty

of the New Place garden is derived from
the massing of flowers and shrubs of the

[ 14 ]

same sort, and in the Wild garden great beds
of Viburnum Plicatum, Ozothamnus, Tree
Lupins, Exochorda and many sorts of Spiraeas,
Magnolias and other flowering shrubs are very
effective. There are no little scraps of any-
thing, and the effects are broad and spacious.
In the Pond garden the Water Lilies
claim first attention — beautiful groups of
crimson, primrose, white and white suffused
on the outer petals with pink, floating on the
water like so many jewels. Round about are
Ramondias, Orchises and many other choice
plants which revel in congenial surroundings
—and for shrubs there are Kalmias, Citrus
Trifoliata, Caesalpinia Japonica, Ribes Specio-
sum, Indigofera, various Magnolias, Rosa
Polyantha simplex (delightfully fragrant) and
masses of Olearia Gunni and Ozothamnus
Rosmarimfolius. The last named is a beautiful
shrub closely covered with minute white
flowers, each one like a microscopic anemone-

[ 16]

centred Pyrethrum. A grass walk from the
Pond garden leads past several more bushes

FOXGLOVES AND PEONIES

of this Ozothamnus to a large crescent-shaped
bed of crimson and white Foxgloves, most
effectively interplanted with Peonies.

[ 17]

The large
Rock gar-
den, which
runs from
north to-
south, is built
on each side
of a grass
path leading
from the
Pond garden
to the Japan-
ese garden,
and here we
have colour
in plenty —
masses of
Saxifrage and Dianthus in variety, Heuchera,
Campanula, Linum Arboreum, Oxalis Kn-
neaphylla, Hypericum Polyphyllum, Primula
Sikkimensis, Primula Bulleyana, and many

[ 18 ]

THE LONG ROCK GARDEN

others. Tropaeolum Polyphyllum I must
specially mention ; it is such a beautiful plant
and not often seen : the orange flowers and
the glaucous grey-green foliage reminding one

PRIMULA JAPONICA IN THE JAPANESE GARDEN

of the Mandarin variety of Eschscholtzia.
Owing to its sprawling habit it is eminently
suited for planting at the top of a low retain-

[ 19 ]

THE RHODODENDRON WALK

[ 20 ]

ing wall, or
where it can
overhang a
rock. Meco-
nopsis Pani-
culata, Walli-
chi and In-
t e g r i f ol i a
dominate a
small bay.

From this
Rock garden
another grass
walk with
Rhododen-
drons on each
side leads to
the bottom of the Wild garden, and another
walk leads to large beds of Rambler Roses
and Irises.

The grass walk, which divides the large

[ 21 ]

ENTRANCE TO THE JAPANESE GARDEN

IN THE JAPANESE GARDEN

[ 22 ]

or lower Rock garden, leads by a bridge
over a pond to the Japanese garden. At
the bottom, near a large Japanese lantern,

THE JAPANESE TEA-HOUSE

was a magnificent bed of Primula Japonica,
and the path leads upwards past several
small ponds to a Japanese tea-house, covered

[ 23 ]

with Wistaria Multijuga. Every plant in
this garden is of Japanese origin.

The gardens of New Place are open to
the public on Sundays in May and June,
and are visited by a large number of people
most of whom, although they may not be
botanists or horticulturists, can appreciate a
charming picture. For in these gardens no
attempt has been made to form a collection
of rarities or to specialise in any direction.
Rather have the owners tried to paint a
series of garden pictures which may refresh
in mind and body those who see them, and
which may linger in the memory, reminding
us that " gardening is the purest of human
pleasures."

W. B. DUGGAN

'(This description appeared in "THE GARDEN" of Aug. 6th, 1921. It has been
slightly -altered}

[24]

Printed in Great Britain by
Butler & Tanner,
Frome and London.

WSI