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Highwic House and Garden  The plan for the original Highwic House structure came out of the popular book //The Architecture of Country Houses// by the American A.J. Downing. He was quoted as saying that the plan was ‘a rural Gothic and English manner’ which I’m not quite sure what that meant but it is definitely a awesome house with an awesome garden to match. It had heaps of original features such as its ‘vertical boarding, steep slate roofs, latticed casement windows and decorated bargeboards’. Since the grounds were sub-divided in 1937 there is not as much of the original Highwic House land for the public to enjoy but 1.1 ha of the historic land and garden still remains the same with its old trees, awesome rock gardens and original fernery. Anyone with 21 kids would need a big house so Alfred and Eliza wisely decided to extend the house in 1873. James Barber was the lucky architect who got to design the extensions of this house. He added a sitting/dining wing joined with the former verandah area as well as a separate sitting/dining wing. Soon after a ballroom wing was added with a boys dorm above and then the little billiard house had doubled in size. The garden at Highwic is one of the best parts of the house with the exquisite taste in plants, hedges, and heaps more. Most of the original garden ideas are still within the house but because the house was sub-divided some of the garden is not there still Page 3 Page 4