[Pg 176]
But sympathetic restoration may be seen at its best at Athelhampton.
We took some photographs many years ago, when it was occupied
as a farmhouse, and upon a recent visit could scarcely recognise it as
the same. Not that the house has been much altered exteriorly, but
the quaint old-fashioned gardens, with pinnacled Elizabethan walls,
ancient fish-ponds and fountains, have sprung up and matured in a
manner that had one not seen the gardens as they were, one would
scarcely credit it. Wonders have been done within as well, and the
great hall is very different from what it was before the present owner
came into possession. There are suits of armour and Gothic cabinets
to carry us back to the days of doublet and trunk-hose and square-
toed shoes. Where formerly were pigsties is now a terrace walk, and
the quaint old circular dovecot has been carried off bodily and planted
where it balances to best advantage. But one thing we should like to
see, and that is the ancient gatehouse that was standing in Nash's
time. There is his drawing to go by, and where everything has been
done in such excellent taste one need have little fear that in a few years a new building would settle down harmoniously with the rest.