Pleasure Grounds at Home

PERHAPS we ought to go to Kent this spring or summer before it is turned into a coalfield. Lord De 'Isle's beautiful

place at Penshurst is one of the most interesting houses in England, and travellers to the South-East are strongly recommended to visit it. One shilling admission is charged, and tickets are obtainable at the village Post Office, or at the Leicester Arms at Penshurst. In the great park may be seen Sacharissa's Walk, where the gentle Lady Dorothy Sidney used to walk with Waller.

* * * * The Sussex Weald is so well known, as is also the New Forest, that we need hardly mention them here ; yet it would be unthinkable to write of travelling in England without a reference to these two districts. But if you are in search of something unexpected and different from the rest of England, and have never been to Cornwall, go down to that wild, stern, grand coast and the country of King Arthur and his knights.

* * * * There is something indescribable about the welcome which the West will give you. The glorious moorland views round Yelverton, St. Michael's Mount rising out of the waves near Penzance, St. Ives on a spring evening—these are scenes to enrich the memory. But all England is a garden of memories. We should not drive from place to place noting this view or that monument. The fascination of this country is not in any catalogue of beauty or historical association, it is rather something in the minds of men who have loved England from generation- to generation and made it the kempt and lovely land it is to-day. * * * * In last week's Sunday Times a poem by Vera Arlett, from which we permit ourselves to quote a verse and a half, exactly sums up this spirit of the English countryside :

" As dreams that .unforsotten Live in the waking brain, The villages of England

Haunt weald and hill and plain.

Where Sussex feels the sea-wind, Where Devon greets the sun, Or Hertford drops wild cherries, There's room for everyone. Whether on moor or hillside, By plain or wood or wold, These are the happiest England, Her dreams unspoilt, untold."

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Harrogate is now no longer a place for invalids only ; it has

become a social centre and people go- there to play golf and lawn tennis as well as to drink its sulphurous waters. Probably there is no more delightful air. in England than that which blows across the Yorkshire moors. Something is always going on at Harrogate, indoors or out of doors. The Wednesday

evening Symphony Concerts arc attended by large numbers of people from all over the North, for the programmes given in the Royal Hall (which is one of the finest concert lulls in England) are of exceptional merit.

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With music, theatres, cinemas and frequent dances the visitor will find' that the days of his " cure," far from being long stretches of boredom from one early morning draught to the next, are a time of real enjoyment (there are three golf clubs, en tout cas and grass tennis courts, bowling, cricket,

fishing and a variety of other amusements) and he will return from his annual " spring cleaning " refreshed in mind as well as body. There is no " after cure necessary after taking the Harrogate waters and treatment ; it is all taken at once, for the heather-scented air braces the nerves while the potent but not equally well perfumed waters do the rest. During Whitsun Week the North of England Flower Show is to be held at Harrogate, while the first hard court tennis tournament takes place from the 5th to the 8th of May.

* * * * To those who want golf and not too severe a climate, we can recommend a visit to Newcastle, Co. Down, which is within easy reach of Belfast. Then there is Bundoran, another delightful spot, and Rostrevor, where " the mountains of Mourne sweep down to the sea." .

A paradise for motorists is the Antrim Coast road, by the Giant's Causeway and Rosapena (which has one of the finest hotels in Ireland) through the delightful glens of Antrim.

In the neighbourhood of Dublin a variety of motor routes open out. One of the most varied and delightful is that towards Wicklow, affording a constant and ever-changing variety of mountain, river and glen scenery, together with places of great archaeological interest, such as. Glendalough.

As regards Rosslare, already mentioned in the Travel Editor's notes as being the " jumping off" point for Southern Ireland, there is an excellent golf course here and salmon fishing par excellence in the Blackwater. An excellent centre for fishing, walking and rough shooting is Cong, the site of the ancient and celebrated monastery, which is said to be more like- an English village than any other in. Ireland.

Parknasilla and .Glengariff both have good hotels. At the

Episcopal Palace near the former, Mr. A. P. Graves, son of the late Bishop of Limerick, wrote " Father O'Flynn," which was first published in the Spectator and is now sung throughout the English-speaking world. The road between Parknasilla and Glengariff has ocean views as grand as any to be found from Malin Head to Cape Clear.

Near Cork is Blarney, which is a well-known health resort, although it is the famous Stone that has chiefly. eaught the imagination of the world. There is an excellent hotel and hydro here and the climate is mild and bracing.