DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.67417#0200
HAMPTON COURT
156
grounds agree with the classical forms of Wren’s
architecture, and are admirably adapted to set off
the regular proportions of his stately fagade. It
was Rose’s pupils, Loudon and Wise, who, acting
under Wren’s orders, laid out the great semi-
circular parterre with its fountains and scroll-work
flower-beds, and made the Broad Walk, which runs
in front of the palace, from the Flower-pot Gates
on the Kingston road, to the banks of the river.
This parterre was altered by Kent, and most of the
fountains were removed, but the great oval Foun-
tain ordered by William III. remains in the centre,
and is still famous for its goldfish. Here the en-
lightened taste and skill which distinguishes English
gardening in our own times have been given full
play, with the happiest results. Throughout the
summer months, masses of peonies and sweet-
peas, of tall blue larkspurs and Madonna lilies, of
fuchsias and phloxes, bloom on these sunny lawns ;
the Broad Walk is a blaze of gorgeous colour, and
climbing roses of every hue hang over the old red
walls.
The Long Walk or Terrace along the Thames,
which Switzer, himself a pupil of Loudon and Wise,
calls “ the noblest work of the kind in Europe,”
was also made about 1700, and the four Pavilions
on the Bowling Green at the eastern end were built.
It was in those summer-houses, fitted up as they
were with furniture and card-tables, that Queen
Caroline used to spend the evenings, playing at
ombre and commerce, while George II. flirted with
Mrs. Howard and tried in vain to win the fair
156
grounds agree with the classical forms of Wren’s
architecture, and are admirably adapted to set off
the regular proportions of his stately fagade. It
was Rose’s pupils, Loudon and Wise, who, acting
under Wren’s orders, laid out the great semi-
circular parterre with its fountains and scroll-work
flower-beds, and made the Broad Walk, which runs
in front of the palace, from the Flower-pot Gates
on the Kingston road, to the banks of the river.
This parterre was altered by Kent, and most of the
fountains were removed, but the great oval Foun-
tain ordered by William III. remains in the centre,
and is still famous for its goldfish. Here the en-
lightened taste and skill which distinguishes English
gardening in our own times have been given full
play, with the happiest results. Throughout the
summer months, masses of peonies and sweet-
peas, of tall blue larkspurs and Madonna lilies, of
fuchsias and phloxes, bloom on these sunny lawns ;
the Broad Walk is a blaze of gorgeous colour, and
climbing roses of every hue hang over the old red
walls.
The Long Walk or Terrace along the Thames,
which Switzer, himself a pupil of Loudon and Wise,
calls “ the noblest work of the kind in Europe,”
was also made about 1700, and the four Pavilions
on the Bowling Green at the eastern end were built.
It was in those summer-houses, fitted up as they
were with furniture and card-tables, that Queen
Caroline used to spend the evenings, playing at
ombre and commerce, while George II. flirted with
Mrs. Howard and tried in vain to win the fair