"It is a strange thing, and one of the most regrettable,
but it seems to be a law with hardly any exception, that the new order that
replaces the old bring with it unsightliness in place of the former comeliness.
And though the re-awakening of a sense of beauty in matters concerning
architecture, house decoration and furnishing and the arranging of gardens,
among people of the more well-to-do classes has arisen to a new and better
life, yet in all that pertains to the simple necessities
of life and their production, is changing from its older beauty into something,
in most cases, of positive ugliness. It is now rare indeed that, passing along
country roads and through villages, anything new is to be seen that has any
kind of attractive appearance. So it is also in and about the farm. If a new
farm building is wanted it is roofed, if not wholly constructed, of corrugated
iron. What a miserable contrast to the simple old building such as the one
shown with granary above and shelter for carts and waggons below. In the more
advanced farming, mechanical traction is taking the place of horse power.
Perhaps a few years hence we shall no longer see the jolly teams of horses
starting out for the day's work or see them at work in the field or carrying
the loads of farm produce along the roads. Are we to expect the extinction of
those splendid breeds of heavy horses-the grand Shires and the powerful
Suffolks? Is all this living strength and beauty to give way to dead
contrivances of unsightly iron?"
From 'Old English Household Life' by Gertrude Jekyll, 1925
From 'Old English Household Life' by Gertrude Jekyll, 1925
