Belvidere, near Dartford, Lord Saye and Sele, is a noble place. The house is situated on a piece of table land, bordered by a range of inequalities of surface skirting the alluvial plain of the Thames, and commanding delightful views of that noble river, and the country beyond. The house has no merit in an architectural point of view exteriorly, but it contains one room fitted up in the style of Louis XIV., which is altogether one of the most complete things of the kind in England. It is 35 ft. long, 25 ft. wide, 30 ft. high, and appropriately finished and furnished. Exterior facings to the windows, and other architectural decorations, with a terraced garden, for which the situation is peculiarly adapted, would render this a singularly fine place. There are extensive walks reaching for miles along the summits of the wooded banks, and every now and then opening to the river, and sometimes descending to the lower grounds. The wood is chiefly the remains of a natural oak forest, and, the soil being very thin on chalk, the roots, which ramify from the old trunks and stools of what bad formerly been coppice wood, spread over the surface like network, showing in a strongly marked manner the advantage of planting above the surface rather than under it. There is a fine mixture of hollies, laurels, junipers, red cedars, and other evergreens, among the oaks, and there are some open glades covered with the original heath, in the same state in which they have probably been for ages. Though there are only about 150 acres in the park, yet there are upwards of two miles of walks. These are 10 ft. in width, with low flat grass edgings clipped, but not pared with the spade, and though no family has lived here for a number of years, yet they are kept in the highest order. There is a flower-garden in an extensive glade in the woody scenery, which comes in as a fine relief to the general character, though the flower beds are much too large, and far from being connected into a general system. There is a small pinetum, unfortunately planted under the shade of the native oaks, and therefore never likely to produce any effect. The native oaks are wholly of Quercus sessiliflora.
