On the other side of the house was a terrace sloping down to a lawn
and bowling-green, hedged in by a formal row of evergreens. A noble
plane-tree was in the middle of the lawn, and beyond it a pond
renowned for water-lilies. To the left was the kitchen garden,
terminating in an orchard, planted on the ramparts and moat of the
Old Court; then came the farm buildings, and beyond them a field,
sloping upwards to an extensive wood called Beechcroft Park. In the
wood was the cottage of Walter Greenwood, gamekeeper and woodman by
hereditary succession, but able and willing to turn his hand to
anything, and, in fact, as Adeline once elegantly termed him, the
'family tee totum.'
To the right of the house there was a field, called Long Acre,
bounded on the other side by the turnpike road to Raynham, which led
up the hill to the village green, surrounded by well-kept cottages
and gardens. The principal part of the village was, however, at the
foot of the hill, where the Court lane crossed the road, led to the
old church, the school, and parsonage, in its little garden, shut in
by thick yew hedges. Beyond was the blacksmith's shop, more
cottages, and Mrs.
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