Equidistant from Pittenweem and St. Monan’s, in Fifeshire, and a mile
from the sea, stands Balcaskie, the beautiful home of Sir Ralph
Anstruther.
The park is entered from the north by a fine gateway with stone piers
bearing “jewelled” balls, dating from the later middle of the
seventeenth century. The entrance road is joined by two others from east
and west, all passing through a park of delightful character. The road
leads straight through a grassy forecourt walled on the three outer
sides by yew hedges, and reaches the door by a gravelled half-circle
formed by the projection on either side, of the curved walls of the
offices and stables. The house, of the middle seventeenth century,
though just too late to have been built as a fortress, retains much of
the character of the older Scottish castles, but adds to it the
increased comfort and commodiousness of its own time. There have been
considerable later additions and alterations, but much of the old still
remains, including some rooms with very interesting ceilings.
The main entrance on the north leads straight through to a door to the
garden on the south. The garden occupies a space equal to about five
times the length of the house-front. The ground falls steeply, something
like fifty feet in all, and is boldly terraced into three levels.
Looking southward from the door and across the garden, the eye passes
down a great vista between trees in the park to the Firth of Forth, and
across it to the Bass Rock, some twelve miles away and near the further
shore.
The upper garden level, reached from the house by a double flight of
descending steps, has a broad walk running the whole length, with an
excellently modelled lead statue at each end; to the west an Apollo, a
singularly graceful figure, and to the east a female statue, possibly a
Diana. The space in front of the house is divided into three portions;
the two outer compartments having hedges of yew from four to five feet
high. One of these incloses a bowling-green, the other a lawn with some
beds. The middle turfed space has a sundial and beds of flowers. Here is
also the remaining one of what was formerly a pair of fine cedars,
placed symmetrically to right and left. Adjoining the house and next to
the end of the broad walk where stands the Apollo, is the rose-garden,
which, with this graceful statue, forms the subject of the picture. The
rose-garden is of beds cut in the grass, containing not Roses only but
also other bright garden flowers. A female statue of more modern work
stands in the centre.
The great terrace wall, eighteen feet high, that forms the retaining
wall of the upper portion of the garden, rises towards both ends to its
full height as a wall, but the middle space is lightened by being
treated with a handsome balustrade. At the extreme ends flights of steps
lead down to the next, the middle level. The first long flight reaches a
wide stone landing, the lower, shorter flight turning inwards at a right
angle. Great buttresses, projecting forward eight feet at the
ground-line, add much to the dignity and beauty of the wall. They are
roofed with stone, and each one carries the bust of a Roman emperor.
From the steps on each side come broad gravelled walks, leading by one
step down to a slightly sunk rectangular lawn, which occupies the middle
space. On each side of the paths are groups of flower-beds on a long
axial line that is parallel with the wall. They have a broad turf verge
and a nearly equal space of gravel next to their box-edges. Piers and
other important points have stone balls or flower-vases. Stone seats
stand upon the landings above the lowest flights or steps, against the
walls which bound the garden to right and left. Beyond these boundaries
are tall trees, their protecting masses giving exactly that comforting
screen that the eye and mind desire, and forming the best possible
background to the structure and garnishing of the beautiful garden.
It is one of the best and most satisfying gardens in the British Isles;
[Illustration: THE APOLLO, BALCASKIE