The Earl of Kenmare will share his blessings, so far as his park is
concerned, with you or any one else for a sixpence, and they are well
worth it. I do not know any place where a lover of nature or one who is
fond of strolling through the woods can get as much for his money. The
demesne or park contains about nineteen hundred acres of forest and
garden with many miles of walks and drives. The lodgekeepers at every
one of the six gates are always alert to collect the sixpence and give
you a ticket, numbered and stamped and good for that day only. But you
can pass the gates with it as often as you like until they are closed at
night, and a wise man will spend as much time as he can spare within the
demesne every day. When we were there in June the trees were glorious;
hundreds of acres of rhododendrons were in flower and made great banks
of purple blossoms; the hawthorns, arbutus, laburnums, and other
flowering trees and the woodbine were in their greatest glory. And when
they fade we can admire the oaks and beeches that have been growing
there for hundreds of years. Many of the trees were planted after
designs. There are long avenues that are completely roofed by boughs,
and at one place a magnificent cathedral of beeches has been devised of
foliage, three wide aisles made by five rows of venerable beech trees
more than three hundred years old, which were trimmed almost to the top
when young and the branches trained to overlap so that they are almost a
rain-proof roof. The trunks are smooth and almost straight, like the
columns of a basilica, and the ground is covered with half decayed
shells of beech nuts that have fallen during the centuries.
But the most glorious part of the demesne is the garden, which surpasses
any that I have seen for years. It occupies a terrace surrounding
Kenmare House upon the highest eminence in the demesne and overlooks the
lakes. It is laid out in the Italian style, and the gardener told us
that it was designed by the Dowager Lady Kenmare when she was a bride.
If that is true her ladyship must have been a very clever landscape
gardener. The most striking feature is a tennis court inclosed within a
hedge of cypress ten feet high and six feet thick, with the top trimmed
to represent the wall of a castle, with arches for entrances and bays
and recesses where benches have been placed to accommodate spectators.
This unique wall of cypress is so dense that a tennis ball will rebound
from it. Adjoining the tennis court is a croquet ground, and just behind
them an exquisite little cottage where her ladyship serves tea every
summer afternoon to her guests.
I was told that no other garden in Ireland compares with this, and the
only ones that approach it are those of the Duke of Devonshire at
Lismore and the Duke of Ormonde at Kilkenny. Although those at
Versailles and Fontainebleau are much more extensive, they are not so
artistic.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account