Glimpse inside garden of one of NI’s most historic houses
Visitors have opportunity to see Grey Abbey House
GARDEN lovers will have a rare chance to visit some stunning private grounds in Co Down this weekend.
The magnificent grounds of Grey Abbey House, which overlook Strangford Lough on the Ards Peninsula, will open this Saturday.
And for one day only, members of the public can enjoy the gardens of this 17th century demesne, with every penny of the £5 per adult entrance fee supporting the work of conservation charity, the Woodland Trust.
The home of William and Daphne Montgomery has become a firm fixture on Northern Ireland’s garden tourism trail for its glorious flowers and trees from around the world.
The Southern Hemisphere garden contains a collection of plants from
New Zealand, Tasmania, Australia, Argentina, Chile and South Africa. Other attractions include the walled garden, vegetable garden, late summer border, and shrub rose border.
Two orchards also boast an enviable collection of Victorian fruit trees and recently planted Irish apple trees. In recent years, Grey Abbey has been at the forefront of some film and television productions. A number of different locations have been chosen, including the house interior, the gardens, granary, stable yard and the cottage on Mid Island on Strangford Lough.
To date, it has provided locations for The Frankenstein Chronicles, My Mother and Other Strangers, The Lost City of Z and, most recently, the BBC One drama series, The Woman in White.
Alongside the breathtaking formal gardens, the estate also boasts mature parkland, a lake, chickens and the remains of a Cistercian abbey. Daphne and husband, Bill, both 78, who have four grown-up children — Hugo, Rose, Frances and Flora, and 10 grandchildren — both adore the surrounding greenery.
“My husband’s family has been here since 1606. This is the third house on this site and it was built in 1762 by Bill’s ancestor, the MP Lord Hillsborough of Hillsborough Castle,” Daphne said.
Daphne says the gardens had virtually disappeared when she arrived in 1965 after her marriage.
“My parents had a lovely garden, so I was always quite keen.
“I very soon realised that we lived in a part of the world where there was a good climate and where we were lucky enough to have good soil.
“Firstly I opened up the 18th century landscape and took away the laurels that were planted between the house and the park.
“Gradually we created the shrub rose border, then the hot border and the vegetable garden. The beech hedge garden was our son’s idea and he designed the hedges and the sunken garden.”
The gardens have since been transformed with the help of gar- dener Jerome Convery, who has been at Grey Abbey House for over 30 years.
“The great thing is that Jerome and I think alike about what we should plant or cut out,” Daphne added.
Saturday’s event will raise funds for The Woodland Trust’s First World War Centenary Woods project.
One of these is at Brackfield Wood in the Faughan Valley, near Londonderry, created as a lasting tribute to those who died in the First World War.