XIII. The Garden Room

The success which has followed the open-air treatment of consumption has led the modern world to realise the beneficial effects of an outdoor life; for if it can stremgthen the body, and so enable it to throw off a disease apparently curable by no other means, it must surely help to prevent the lealthy from contracting ailments. Human life, like plant life, flourishes in sun and air and grows pale and anaemic when it is deprived of these.

And so the garden is conceived as an outdoor extension of the house, with its sheltered apartments for sunshine or for shade.

But in our own inconstant climate it is not always possible to use the garden entirely. It is desirable, for instance, that meals should be taken in summer weather out of doors. But the constant removal of furniture alone would make this difficult for the average household, and so the need of a wide verandah or garden-room is increasingly felt. Here the necessary chairs and table can be left out without damage from a passing shower, and a certain degree of shelter be secured. On summer mornings breakfast in such a room will have much of the charm of breakfast in the garden without its disadvantages, and in the evening it will be pleasant to sit there and enjoy the prospect of the garden after a day perhaps spent perforce indoors. Such a room should be planned to be free from draughts, and should face south if possible. It should be wider than the ordinary type of verandah, so that it can be used as a room. The garden adjoining it should be arranged so that its most attractive vistas are commanded from the garden-room. It may often be formed by an extension of the roof supported by posts, or it may be included in the house plan and enclosed with arches.

A room so arranged will often be welcome even in wet weather, and nothing but cold will make it untenable. It can be adapted for winter use by the introduction of movable glass screens, and thus become; a miniature winter garden.

In some cases a similar feature may be included as an appendage to a bedroom, and such an arrangement is specially desirable in a sick room.