Oakhill; Sir Simon H. Clarke, Bart., F.H.S. - We approached this place from Wheatstone, by which road the greater part of the grounds is passed through or seen, before arriving at the house; the proper approach to the mansion is, however, from the Southgate Road, from which but a small portion of the grounds is seen by a stranger, till he looks from the drawingroom windows. In short, the house stands on the top of a bank, and the entrance front is approached over a piece of table land; plantations to the right and left serving as a screen to the distant prospect, which would otherwise be seen before entering the mansion. The situation of the house is unexceptionable; but the grounds on the lawn front are laid out and planted in the commonplace manner of the past generation, and are greatly in want of reform; they are, indeed, quite unworthy of the situation. A circumstance the more to be lamented, as they might so easily be made every thing that could be desired. From the Wheatstone approach, the undulations of the ground are seen to great advantage; more particularly at one point near the lodge, where their intersections form a beautiful foreground to Little Grove, the residence of F. Cass, Esq., a villa which, like Oakhill, stands at the head of a bank. We also see from this approach Boham Lodge, the residence of C. Knott, Esq., a villa very beautifully situated, where several improvements are going forward. Still, were these three villas to be built again, there can be no doubt but that they would be very greatly improved, and that they would bear the impress of the age; which, in this country, is in nothing more remarkable, than in the progress which has been made within the last few years in villa architecture; notwithstanding the occasional occurrence of such exceptions as that mentioned in the preceding paragraph.
