Three Gardens And The Follies

This view from out front at Moorside takes in the low stone wall separating the lawn from the meadow area. The woods in the background were in their full fall colours.

I headed over towards the gardens.

King envisioned three distinct flowering gardens descending this slope towards the trees. The flowers of the first two gardens are listed here- the formal French style and the informal English gardens. Panels like this are found on the estate grounds, detailing historical or architectural features.

Turning around, here's another view of the house.

This gives you a view towards the gardens. The French garden, with its geometric shapes, is in the foreground.

Note the doggie in this shot, walking his human among the garden paths.

This is the heart of the French garden. The shelter like structure you see over the bench in the background is actually a wooden art installation, overseen this past summer by a local artist, Marc Walter.

The English garden is by tradition less formal, dominated by perennials, and this view up slope shows where we've been.

At the base of the lawn, close to the treeline, is one of the follies here on the estate. A folly is defined as an ornamental building or structure with no practical purpose, and some of that is found here. King was a man of contrasts- a Scots Presbyterian who had an interest in spiritualism, a bachelor with a sentimental streak. He liked to purchase sections of architecture that were being demolished and put them to use in different ways. This is how A Window On The Forest, as it is called, happened to end up here. Once part of the British American Bank Note Company in Ottawa, this is from a building that was being demolished in 1936. King salvaged the pieces and had them reassembled here. It's a deliberate location, as beyond the folly is the rock garden- a hardy bed of flowers appearing, especially at a distance, to emerge from the bedrock. 

Nearby is a bench, which has the look of a stone fireplace half buried in the soil. 

I looked back up slope towards the house. Off to the right, the garage can be seen.

Today I finish off with another of the follies. The Arc de Triomphe was also taken from the former British American building in Ottawa and reassembled here. The masonry combines King's love of nature and love of classical style architecture, serving as a symbolic gateway to the estate. It also serves as a nod to his 1935 return to the prime minister's job, a return carrying on until his retirement from office in 1948.