Plan and Description of Fortis Green, Muswell Hill, with a small Sheep-farm attached.

371. Ground Plan, Etc

This villa, which was laid out, planted, and formerly occupied by W. A. Nesfield, Esq., landscape gardener, is in a more retired situation than is generally to be met with in the neighbourhood of London. Figs. 171. and 172. (pp. 276., 277.) show the ground plan, of which the following are the details:

1, Entrance by a close gate, 6 ft. 6 in. high.

2, Avenue of sycamores, bounded on each side by a laurel hedge cut nearly perpendicular, like a clipped hedge, and allowed to be high enough to screen the kitchen-garden, etc There are other laurel hedges in the kitchen-garden marked l.

3, Boundary, consisting of a quick fence and ditch.

4, Entrance front of the house.

5, Lawn, which descends very rapidly to the flat surface upon which is placed the house. In consequence of the frontage being so long and narrow, it was impossible to place the house upon the level (i. e. where the lawn is separated from the kitchen-garden), because the south view, which is extremely desirable, would have been contracted to nearly half the width which is now seen; and, as the kitchen-garden and other requisites would hare destroyed the character of the view from the south, which now in itself assumes the appearance of a park-like field, there was no alternative, but that of adopting the different sites indicated on the plan, for the flower-garden, kitchen-garden, five.; particularly as there is no view northwards. The objection, therefore, of descending to the carriage-sweep in front of the house, is accounted for.

6, Dug ground, containing a variety of ornamental trees and shrubs: the margins are devoted to low flowering shrubs, &c

7, Flower-garden, upon two levels.

8, Walk connecting the kitchen-garden with the flower-garden, along a row of lime trees.

9, Kitchen-garden, haying a holly hedge from the gardener's entrance (a) to the yew hedge near the corner of the house (ft); the remaining hedges are all common laurel

10, Melon-ground and pond.

11, Orchard, and potato and mangold wurzel ground, etc.

12, Belt of spruce and Scotch firs.

13, Gardener's communication with the public road, when manure and other materials for the gardens are wanted to be brought in.

14, Approach to the stable-yard.

15, Grass drying-ground, on a lower level than the approach, and screened by a dense mass of evergreens, etc.

k, House-yard. s, Stable-yard.

16, in figs. 171. and 172., Boundary plantation, fenced towards the field with furze (kept clipped), concealing from the flower-garden a sheep-hut and little stack-yard (x).

17, in fig. 172., Groups of thorns and other trees.

The frontage of the villa adjoining Mr. Nesfield's at c in fig. 173. is the same size as his own; and, as both places were built by the same architect (A. Salvin, Esq., Mr. Nesfield's brother-in-law), and laid out at the same time, care was taken that where the ground was planted thickly in one villa, it was planted thinly in the other, and vice vend; so that each villa might aid the other in producing its general effect, and in sacrificing as little ground as possible in planting. The field belonging to Mr. Nesfield embraces the frontage of both houses; and the land attached to both, being 8 1/4 acres, is subdivided as shown in fig, 173. In this figure, a b show the land occupied by Mr. Nesfield, and containing in all 4 1/4 acres, a being that part which comprises the house, kitchen-garden, etc, and 6 being the grass field; c is the house and garden of the adjoining occupier; and d his grass field, to which he has access by the road e; f is the public road, and g g are the entrance-gates to the two houses.

This arrangement (on purchasing the land) was made in order that each house might enjoy the effect of space as much as possible, and, by dividing the ground with the wire fence (A), which is scarcely visible from either house, the breadth of effect is not cut up, as it would have been, had the division been made longitudinally. The boundary hedge (i) winds considerably, and there are several very fine trees in it, which, in consequence of the winding, group moat admirably, as shown in the view, fig. 174. The wood at k, in fig. 173., belongs to the Earl of Mansfield's grounds, at Kenwood, and, together with the spire of Highgate church, adds greatly to the beauty of the landscape, as shown in the view above referred to (fig. 174.)

Fig. 175., p. 282., is a ground plan of Mr. Nesfield's house and flower-garden on a larger scale.

a Drawing-room. aa, Green-house. b Dining-room.

c Passage. d, Staircase. e, Porch. f, Closet.

g Way to cellar, from kitchen and glass closet. h, Kitchen.

i Scullery. k, Stairs to servants* rooms. 2, Laundry.

m Store-room. n, Tool-house, at the end of which is the stoke-hole to the greenhouse. o, Passage to the yard. p, Larder. q, Coal-hole.

r, Wash-house. s, Pump. t. Yard. u, Stable.

uu, Dung-pit v. Walk from the entrance-front to the flower-garden.

w, Walk connectlng the kitchen-garden with the flower-garden.

x, Gate in the wire fence which separates the flower-garden from the field.

y. Entrance to the field, from a small paddock communicating with the stable-yard.

z. Shrubbery, and boundary fence.

1, Steps from the drawing-room. 2, Beds for low flowers, on gravel, and edged with box. 8, Aloe-tab

4, A mound, raised 18 in., having its interior slope as steep as it will stand (that is, with a base of 2 ft.). Upon the top is a hedge of dwarf China roses, jasmines, and sweetbriars, kept 18 in- high, and terminating in each end in a small circle, out of the centre of which rises a standard rose tree. The exterior slope, as indicated by the shading, is long, and gradually diminishes, like a glacis, till it imperceptibly unites with the common level ft, Beds for groups of dahlias on grass, the highest plants being in the middle of the beds.

6, Dug border, in front of a plantation of evergreens and low deciduous flowering trees, for high and low perennials, and annual flowers.

7, Dug borders for perennials, annuals, &e., and plants out of the green-house.

8, Dug borders for low flowers, all upon grass. The two conical trees shown at the steps, are arbor vitas.

9, Dug borders, on grass, for high flowers, etc Next to the palings are various deciduous trees and evergreen shrubs; and the palings are covered with common laurels, trained like fruit trees. This paling is of common Baltic deal, Kyanised, but not painted, and it appears to stand very well

10, Mulberry tree.

14, Yew hedge, to separate the flower-garden from the entrance front.

12, Sloping bank of turf, having a rise of 8 ft. on a base of 7 ft. This slope was formed in consequence of the house standing on an inclined plane. The house now has the effect of standing on a horizontal platform. 18, Steps leading from the lower to the upper flower-garden. 14, Wall to the offices, which, containing no windows, is covered with peach, nectarine, and apricot trees. Flowering creepers might be substituted; or it might be treated as a conservative wall, and covered with myrtles, camellias, oleanders, fuchsias, etc.

Fig. 176., p. 284., is a view of the entrance-front of this villa,

372. Management Of The Grass-field

The total quantity of land at Fortis Green is 4 1/4 acres, of which 1 1/4 acre is occupied by the house, pleasure ground, kitchen-garden, shrubberies, etc, and 3 acres are exclusively devoted to sheep.