Near a quiet village in Warwickshire, and in close relation to its
accompanying farm buildings, is this charming old manor house. It is not
upon a main road, but stands back in its own quiet place on rising
ground above the Avon. Everything about it is interesting and quite
unspoilt. The wooden hand-gate, with its acorn-topped posts, that stands
upon two semi-circular steps may not have been of the pattern of the
original gate--it has an eighteenth-century look--but it is just right
now. It leads into a half dark, half light, double arcade of splendid
old clipped yews. Looking from the gate they seem to be tall walls of
yew to right and left, showing the projecting porch of the house at the
end; but, passing along, there are seen to be openings between every two
trees, each of which gives a charming picture of the lawns and simple
flower beds to right and left. The path is paved with stone flags; the
garden is bounded with a low wall of the local oolite limestone that
rock-plants love. A few thin-topped old fruit-trees, their stems clothed
with ivy, are another link between the past and present, and the
somewhat pathetic evidence of their having long passed their prime and
being on the downward path, is in striking contrast with the robust
vigour of the ancient yews, already some centuries old, and looking as
if they must endure for ever.
Eight yews stand on either side--sixteen in all. They are known as the
twelve Apostles and the four Evangelists. The names may have belonged to
them from the time of their planting, for the whole place belonged in
old days to Evesham Abbey, and is pervaded with monastic memory and
tradition. This may also account for the excellence of the
[Illustration: THE TWELVE APOSTLES, CLEEVE PRIOR