arming
contrast to the seaboard of Bournemouth and her suburbs of Boscombe and
Southborne, while to those who are fond of river boating the whole
district is full of attraction. For the pedestrian the valley is very
accessible. The route from Bournemouth is by way of the Upper Gardens,
and right through the Talbot Woods to Throop, where the banks of the
river are covered with trees. The village is a straggling one, and the
mill and weir give an additional charm to some of the prettiest river
scenery in the neighbourhood. A short distance from Throop is the
village of Holdenhurst, which, with Throop, forms one parish.

While in this district a visit may be paid to Hurn, or Heron Court, the
seat of the Earl of Malmesbury. The house, largely rebuilt since it was
owned by the Priors of Christchurch, is not shown to the public, but the
park, with its beautiful plantation of rhododendrons, may be seen from
the middle of May till the end of June, that is, when the flowers are in
full bloom. From Holdenhurst the return journey may be made by way of
Iford, and so on to the main road at Pokesdown, whence Bournemouth is
soon reached.

[Illustration: TALBOT WOODS, BOURNEMOUTH]

To those who visit the ancient town of Poole for the first time by road
from Bournemouth, it is difficult to tell where the one town ends and
the other begins, so continuous are the houses, shops, and other
buildings which line each side of the main thoroughfare; and this
notwithstanding that to the left hand of the road connecting the two
places lies the charming residential district of Parkstone, where the
houses on a pine-clad slope look right over the great harbour of Poole.
As a matter of fact Bournemouth is left long before Parkstone is
reached. The County Gates not only mark the municipal boundaries of
Bournemouth, but they indicate also, as their title implies, that they
divide the counties of Hampshire and Dorset. Thus it is that although
the beautiful houses of Branksome and Parkstone are linked to those of
Bournemouth by bricks and mortar, as well as by road, rail, and tramway,
they otherwise form no part of it. They are in Dorset, and county
rivalry is never stronger or keener than where two beautiful residential
districts face each other from opposite sides of a boundary line.
Bournemouth would dearly like to take Parkstone, a natural offshoot from
herself, under her municipal care, but if this were done Dorset would
lose some of her most val