This is west Cork... there is no better place
MP, decided to buy Garinish and begin the extravagant development of a 37-acre garden there that would become one of the finest in this part of the world.
The story of the creation of these gardens and the relationship of the Bryce family with west Cork is recounted by our guide as we tour the house that the widowed Violet would eventually live in until her death – two extremely valuable paintings by JMW Turner hanging on the walls of the unprotected island home.
That home, far from being the enormous five-storey mansion that was originally planned by John Annan – which would have incorporated the island’s Martello tower – was in fact the house originally built for the gardener. Even so, it’s a substantial property and certainly worth visiting such is the care with which each room has been restored to its original state.
The Bryce family in their heyday before the First World War possessed a fabulous fortune and were hugely influential. John Annan traded and mined Russian diamonds and was a leading parliamentarian. His London home had a ballroom large enough to accommodate 600. The daughters were debutantes at court. His elder brother James was British ambassador to the United States and was instrumental in setting up the League of Nations.
But the village of Glengarriff and the ‘near island’ or Ilnacullin or ‘Island of Holly’ as Garinish was known, held a special place in the much-travelled family’s heart.
Perhaps it was as a result of Nigel’s death but within the year they had bought it and signed up the great arts and crafts designer Harold Peto to begin work on the gardens. At one stage, over 100 men were employed on the building works.
His original design remains but much of his planting was destroyed in storms, to be replaced by the brilliant Scottish gardener Murdo MacKenzie who was appointed to take charge by the now widowed Violet in 1928. MacKenzie lived and worked on the island for more than half a century and his planting schemes survive to this day. When the only surviving Bryce son Roland, for whom the island was home, died in 1953, this surreal paradise was donated to the Irish people – not the State, as our guide tells us. The two Turner paintings now hang in the National Gallery and the gardens and house have been restored and maintained with mesmerising attention to detail by the Office of Public Works.
As we step off the Harbour Queen ferry, the first glimpse we get is of a narrow pathway, lined with rhododenrons and azaleas, which winds up to a domed Italian summerhouse or casita, constructed of Bath stone with marble pillars. This structure is the centrepiece of the main spine of the gardens. On one side is the formal Italian garden, with its central pool and steps up to a platform where there are wonderful views of the bay. To the other, is a manicured lawn, behind which is the walled garden with what is believed to be the longest herbaceous border in Ireland, off which are beds of fruits, edible flowers, vegetables and cut-flower displays. A clocktower is at one end; a Roman coffin collected by Annan Bryce is set into another wall. Parallel to this central spine, on the southern side of the island is a grassy walkway that leads to a temple – from which the views are even more panoramic – and down to a bamboo haven, a pool of gunnera, up many steps to the Martello tower, one of the first built by the British in 1805 to warn of a French invasion. Formality blends irresistibly with naturalistic planting and the results are unique and enchanting.
And finally we tour the house, a time capsule through which you can glimpse the lives of this Anglo-Irish family. MacKenzie’s office is left exactly as he used it, with weather instruments and notebooks of meterological records for every day he was in charge. Housekeeper, Margaret O’Sullivan’s small, neat bedroom is preserved intact with all the religious symbols of the devout Catholic around her.
The kitchen is just as it was back in the 1930s and ’40s – Maggie’s recipe books, her weighing scales, mixing bowl, the neat presses a modest and unassuming contrast to the sort of cooking utensils we use today. Maggie may have been the housekeeper but in essence she ran this house, welcoming and entertaining three presidents who visited while she lived there. The dining room is laid out for guests with family porcelain and cut glass. The sitting room, extended when Roland moved in with his mother, contains all the furniture and family photos that would have surrounded the family as they entertained guests as diverse as Agatha Christie and George Bernard Shaw.
Upstairs are the bedrooms with their original wallpaper and soft furnishings, Roland’s study, artefacts from travels in Rangoon, Burma (now Myanmar) and China.
Our guide points us to one photo of the three islanders – Roland, the Anglo Irish stalwart, a member of the Church of Ireland, MacKenzie, a Scots Presbyterian and Margaret, a Catholic housekeeper. It’s a pointed tribute, she says, to the small things that, in reality, make big historical points. Despite their diverse backgrounds, in terms of wealth, religion and outlook, all lived here for decades as great friends. All are buried nearby.
We are staying in the Eccles Hotel in Glengarriff, a beautiful Victorian building overlooking the bay and island that the Bryce family used to lease when they
stayed in Glengarriff. It was here that Pippa Middleton and her new husband James Matthews stayed earlier in the summer when they were guests at her best friend, Camilla Campion-Awwad’s wedding in the small church next door.
Those wedding pictures may have put the hotel on the international map, especially as a wedding venue, something it specialises in. But it wears its fame easily. There’s no flashiness or cold hauteur. ‘No bother, no bother at all,’ is something you hear a lot around this part of the county and, in the Eccles, it’s a mantra as staff work with a smiling efficiency.
Our newly-refurbished bedroom is spacious, airy and bright, with a magnificent view over the calm bay waters. Breakfasts and dinner here are generous and perfectly cooked. The dinner menu is stacked with classic favourites, so there is plenty of choice – we are told both lamb and duck are ‘served pink’, which is proper order. The vegetables taste of the earth and are sublime.
The hotel’s position in Glengarriff is ideal. A short stroll takes you to the village, with its classy gift shops, an antiques store to browse in, an ice cream parlour and a good selection of pubs and restaurants. We stroll down to the Blue Pool, a natural inlet where youngsters swim and kayak, and where there’s a lovely river walk.
Glengarriff itself is midway between Bantry and Kenmare, so it’s an ideal stopping-off point if you’re touring, either by car or even walking, in the area. We drive around the Beara peninsula, winding through narrow roadways lined with orange crocosmia and red fuchsia, the dark Caha mountains on one side, the sea, Whiddy Island, Bere Island and Dursey Island dotted along the coast.
The area has a number of little cafés and shops that serve delicious cakes and coffees, and arts and crafts galleries in places with names like Hungry Hill and Cod’s Head.
We’ve decided to make the last of our three days in this wonderland a long day, so we stop off on our way east to Bantry at Manning’s in Ballylickey to sample their amazing Spanish omelette, artisan coffees and local cheeses and jams.
Bantry itself is the main market town of the area and its narrow streets are steeped in history. It is best remembered perhaps as the destination of a French fleet of 43 ships and 14,000 men sent to support Wolfe Tone and the United Irishmen. Unremitting winter storms forced the fleet to return home and, as Tone remarked: ‘England has had its luckiest escape since the Armada.’
The town is dominated by Bantry House, owned by the descendants of Richard White, the first Earl of Bantry. The very fine historic home is still lived in and managed by the family and although some of the paintings and furniture, assembled mainly by the second earl, have been sold, the many rooms of this mansion are still well worth a visit.
The gardens, too, fell into neglect in the early 1900s but a huge amount of restoration has taken place and there are great plans for even more. A stroll around the terraces, provides what you initially believe is the most perfect view of Bantry Bay until you go around the back, stroll through the hedging of the formal parterre and climb the Hundred Steps.
Stand here and you can see the patterns of the geometric gardens, the house and its rooftops, across its grassy terraces, the four cannons aimed across the bay, sailboats bobbing, the waters fringed with green, the fresh air in your face and the warming sun glinting on the sea.
This is a holiday, you think; this is west Cork and, really, when you’re here there’s no better place to be.