[Illustration--Black and White Plate: Coronation Cricket Pavilion,
Bournville.]

Turning back again, we find on the other side of the road a
magnificent pavilion, the Coronation gift of the firm to their
employees, which overlooks the broad level stretch of one of the
finest cricket grounds in the Midlands. Away in the hollow beyond, the
Bourn forms a picturesque, shady pool, part of which is used to make a
capital open-air swimming bath for the men. In the rising background
are the pretty houses and the gardens of the model village. Still
retracing our steps, we now come to the original cottages built by the
firm. Plainer and less picturesque than those of more modern
construction, their air of comfort, and the creepers which cover many
of their walls, make them harmonize well with their surroundings. One
of them is now used as a youths' club, providing games, a circulating
library, and reading and lecture rooms. Another contains club rooms
for the office staff. In passing we catch sight of a fine swimming
bath for the girls.

Through the lodge and under the clematis, a few steps bring us to the
private railway-station, which in size would do credit to many a town.
Here trucks are loaded with finished goods and despatched to their
various destinations. Every working day of the year a long train,
extending often in the busiest season to as many as forty truck-loads,
steams out of this station to scatter the productions of Bournville
over the face of the Earth. Close by the station we turn into the
offices, where the fittings and general arrangement convey an air of
refined solidity according well with the goods produced.

[Illustration--Black and White Plate: Girls' Dining Hall, Bournville.]