mantic spots
on Exmoor. After a long ride or ramble on foot over the open heather,
with sweeping views which include Dartmoor, South Wales, the hills
around Bath, as well as Brown Willy in Cornwall, one finds the ground
falling steeply, and before long one is climbing down a water-worn path
among sturdy oaks. The air also becomes full of the music of the rushing
Horner below. The stream is eventually discovered boiling over mossy
stones in the green shade of the close-growing trees filling the deep
valley. The quieter pools are frequently taken advantage of by a
hard-pressed stag, for this particular piece of country is frequently
hunted over by the Devon and Somerset staghounds, some of the most
popular meets of the season being held at Cloutsham farm, on one of the
slopes of the Horner valley. The neighbourhood of Dulverton includes
some fine bits of river scenery--the Barle, the Haddeo, and the Exe
meeting one another in the midst of lovely wooded hills. Many of the
villages on the margin of Exmoor are exceedingly pretty. The churches,
too, are generally of great interest.

[Illustration: ON EXMOOR.

Looking up the Horner valley towards Dunkery Beacon, which is shown
under shadow.]

KNUTSFORD

THE HOME OF MRS. GASKELL

=How to get there.=--Train from Euston _via_ Crewe. L. and N.W. Rly.
=Nearest Station.=--Knutsford.
=Distance from London.=--180 miles.
=Average Time.=--Varies between 4 to 5-1/2 hours.

1st 2nd 3rd
=Fares.=--Single 24s. 6d. 16s. 6d. 14s. 3-1/2d.
Return 49s. 0d. 31s. 6d. 28s. 7d.

=Accommodation Obtainable.=--"Royal George Hotel," etc.

Knutsford still retains the air of old-world quaintness which Mrs.
Gaskell has made so familiar in her delightful _Cranford_. The whole of
Knutsford breathes the fresh and bright tidiness one always
involuntarily associates with such ladies as "Miss Jenkyns," and every
house rejoices in a beautifully neat garden. The Royal George Hotel, in
the High Street, is a perfect feast to the eye of panelled wainscotting,
oak settles, and Chippendale cabinets. The richness, all over the town,
of ancient carvings, staircases, and chimney-pieces, is due to the
prosperity which the coach traffic between Liverpool and Manchester
brought to the place for many years.

Mrs. Gaskell was born in Chelsea in 1810, but her mother dying soon
after, she went to live under the care of her mother's sister, who lived
at Knutsford