THE NEW COUNTRY HOUSE.
IT is a little doubtful whether the country house of to-day should be called the new country house, or regarded as a revival of what it was in the days of Elizabeth, when Lord Burleigh, writing to his eon, said "Live not in the country without cattle and corn about you." But it is certain that the greater number of those who have made fortunes and follow the invariable English custom of buying land and building, or purchasing and repairing, country houses at the end of this century propose to themselves, and reconstruct quite unconsciously, a mode of life much more in keeping with the ideas of the later Elizabethan and earlier Stuart period than that which was led by the leisured and property-owning class in this country as late as thirty years ago. Of course there is much more money available to spend, though the lower price of labour, land, and materials three centuries ago enabled the Tudor land owners to build, farm, and garden on a lavish scale. The leading " motive " of the modern country house is to make the land and its produce not merely a source of income detached from personal interest, but to regard the cultivation of some portion of it, the possession and care of cattle and animals, the planting of orchards, the forming of woods and plantations, the improve- ment and maintenance of buildings other than those forming part of the home and indoor life, and lastly, but not least, the management of the garden, as the necessary and delight- ful accompaniment of the possession of a country house. To a German or Austrian landowner visiting this country at any time in the last fifty years the separation between country home life and the active life of the country was matter for wonder and surprise. The complete detachment of the squire, who preferred to live as a capitalist on rent from his tenants engaged in agriculture—a detachment so complete that in many cases all the old farm buildings, barns, cattle- sheds, granaries, and the like originally attached to the manor were carefully pulled down, in order that nothing so ungenteel might be near the house—struck the visitor as something rather unreal, even if it denoted wealth and luxury. In addition, it struck the mere spectator that in refusing to take any part, even as a mere hobby, in the practical working of any part of his land, the country gentleman was foregoing a natural and pleasant enjoyment. The position was certainly rather anomalous, as we look back on it now. The ladies when seriously employed were almost entirely occupied in household management, which, it mast be admitted, they understood to perfection. Their china was never broken, their linen lasted for ever, their plate was exquisitely kept ; but they did not garden, and the idea of managing a herd of prize dairy cattle on a home farm would have been almost shocking. Besides, their shoes were too thin ever to walk on wet grass. Miss Austen, who belonged to the class of well- to-do country gentlefolks, shows clearly that the ladies had as yet developed almost no outdoor tastes. For them the country house was somewhat of a prison, and a visit to the country town a release. The gentlemen shot, rode, and hunted, though by no means as energetically as they do now, for the shooting was bad, and hunting by no means as organised as at present. The pleasure farm was not among their recrea- tions. The mere structural evidence of what was considered a complete country gentleman's house from the early Georgian to the middle Victorian era shows how purely " residential " the life was ; the house and reception rooms were excellent, the "cartilage" or annexe to the house as well built, and often part of the same design, but containing only stables, a carriage-house, harness-room, laundry (they were par- ticular as to this, a feature now usually omitted in the country house, but the ladies were all connoisseurs in linen), a fuel-house and boot- house,—and that was all. The great houses had a home farm, where agricultural and stock-breeding experiments were carried out on a large scale, to give ideas for the ultimate improvement of the estate. But the ordinary proprietor let his land to the last acre, and purchased every commodity needed for his house, down to the straw for the stables, from his tenants. What he did with his time has always been a puzzle. Much of it was spent in reading (the country house libraries were acquired mainly between 1790 and 1850). Bat much must have been spent in family life, sauntering, and visiting. The change in the manner of life of the new owners of county houses is to substitute for this leisurely and contemplative indoor comfort, with occasional lapses into sport, a vigorous outdoor life of a practical kind. It is partly esthetic, owing to the immense revival of gardening, partly devoted to sport, or rather to the sport of shooting, and the improve- ment and management of an immense head of game. But the main object of the new owners is to surround them- selves with choice domestic animals, and so far as they can do so without making a toil of a pleasure, to manage and improve at least some parts of their estate. Often the land purchased as an annexe to a quite large house is only enough to provide such occupation. They do not care for the " prestige" of broad acres, or desire the worry of tenants. What they have—and this is often quite a. considerable area, up to a thousand acres—the father or a son, or the family in general, farm themselves, with intense pleasure, energy, and ability, with a quite business-like determination not to lose money by slackness, and an equally fixed resolve to spare none to make their occupations at once pleasant and profitable. At the same time thought and money are lavishly expended on what only yields satisfaction and amusement, such as the garden, the horses, flowers, pet animals, and " fancy " animals and birds, ornamental plant- ing, and, at a distance from the house, the improvement of the shooting and fishing on the property. It is abundantly clear that in this list of activities there is occupation for the various members of a family, whether "grown-ups" or children, and that the latter, especially the girls, are likely to become specialists in various departments of this energetic outdoor life. The scope of those departments in the modern country-house may be judged by comparing the buildings other than those of the dwelling-house and " cartilage " with those of the Early Victorian era described above. The chief change is that a block of farm buildings is now in close proximity to the house, in order that the various members of the family interested may be able to visit them constantly. In these buildings are the electric-light engine, and perhaps one or two other pieces of machinery. The stables are as well drained, ventilated, and lighted with electric light here too, as the house. Perhaps the landing has become a bicycle room,— otherwise there is little structural change in the courtyard. But beyond it is the whole " plant " of a large and wel1. managed home farm. This comprises exquisitely kept cows' stables for the Jersey herd, and separate pens for the calves, a complete modern dairy, with machinery, a shire-horse stable for the cart horses of the farm, and half a dozen giant horses in it munching their supper after their day on the home farm. Besides the dairy cows, another herd of whatever is the local breed, all of the best, with calves and heifers and a patriarchal bull. All these creatures are pedigree animals (it does not pay to keep any but these at the new country house), most splendid to look upon, with every mark of high breeding and good, careful treatment. The result is that all are happy healthy, and friendly to man. All are "eased atte best," bedded in clean straw, feeding on fragrant fodder, en- vironed with sound walls, dry yards, firm gates, and good clean pastures and fields. The stack-yards, to complete the comfort and practical success of this rearing place of costly stock, must be close to the cattle; and Dutch barns, wheat- stacks, oat-houses, chaff-houses, granaries, and the like, all sound, neat, and in good keeping, cluster round. In the days of the Tudors, when this kind of life, minus the first-class improved cattle, was normal in the country house, it was usual to build quarters for the men, who slept on the premises. These buildings may often be seen annexed to the barns and store-houses adjacent to the manors. They were often of considerable architectural merit. Separate buildings for this purpose are now being made part of the new country-house equipment, while proprietors of ancient houses are repairing the disused quarters once appropriated to that purpose.
It will be seen that this is not "playing at farming." It is an intelligent pursuit of what is partly a hobby, partly a useful adjunct to the house. The animals are doubtless the main pleasure of the owners. They are of the purest breeds, from the cattle to the pigs and fowls, and much interest and pleasure is derived from the selection and improvement o the breeds most suited to the locality, the soil, and the taster of the house. From the farm cats—these are often highly. bred Persians or Angoras in places where things are done in the most " thorough " manner,—to the pigeons on the roof, all are of the best of their kinds, a pleasure to look upon and to own. We are not at the end of this natural revival of the old country life. Hawking and the care of the falcons, the stocking of ponds with fresh-water fish, the addition of rifle shooting as a country recreation and sport as a counterpart to the use of the bow, will all find a place in the new country house, even though bicycles and autocars have come to stop.
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