Let the approach be the natural road to the house, without needless turns; let it show the house first at an angle, so that two sides are seen, and not head-on down an avenue; and make it plain that the road leads to this house and nowhere else.
The approach was the visitor’s first view of a house and its park, and Repton gives it careful rules. The old straight avenue showed the front flat on, and from the far end the house looked small. Brown’s drives had often wandered round the park to show it off. Repton wanted a road that took a reasonable line, entered the park where the lodge would be seen to belong to the house, and turned so that the house appeared at an angle, its depth visible, at a distance where its size could be judged.
He applies the same optical reasoning in the Observations (1803): a building seen obliquely looks larger and more solid than one seen square on, and its setting should be judged from the points where people actually stand.
In place of a wall, bound the garden with a ditch whose side towards the garden is a vertical retaining wall and whose other side slopes up to the field, so that cattle are kept out and the view from the house runs on uninterrupted into the park.
ditch c. 1.5–2 m deep: wall on the garden side, turf slope on the park side
Let the character of the site direct the design: whether the ground should be raised or lowered, a view opened or closed, water led or stilled. Prefer variety, surprise and concealed bounds to symmetry.
Compose the garden as a painter composes a landscape: in groups of trees for light and shade, with water winding through the hollows and a temple or bridge placed where it will be seen across it, so that each turn of the walk opens a new picture.
Bring grass up to the walls of the house and keep the cattle off it with a ha-ha; plant trees in clumps on the rising ground and as single specimens on the lawn; and enclose the park with a belt of woodland, with a drive inside it from which the park is seen.
Make the lake by damming a stream in its valley, give it a winding, irregular outline with promontories, and hide both its ends behind trees, a bend or a bridge, so that it seems a river flowing through the park.
Show the natural beauties of a place and hide its defects; give it an appearance of extent and freedom by disguising the boundary; conceal every interference of art, so that the whole seems natural; and remove or hide whatever serves only convenience and cannot be made ornamental.
Cite this page Chris Paton, “The approach to the house”, The Textbook of Architecture, https://textbookofarchitecture.com/rule/repton-approach. Text, drawings and models licensed under CC BY-NC 4.0.