Ducketts Grove & walled gardens.

12 diciembre 2009 - 13 diciembre 2009

Ducketts Grove was designed in a Castellated Gothic revival style by Thomas A. Cobden for John Davidson Duckett circa 1825. The 18th, 19th and early 20th century home of the Duckett family, was formerly at the centre of a 12,000 acre estate that has dominated the Carlow landscape for over 300 years.The building incorporates numerous towers and turrets of varying shapes – round, square and octagonal. One tall octagonal turret rises from the structure. It is elaborately ornamented with oriels and niches containing statues. The house itself is situated in the townland of Rainstown, between Carlow and Tullow but the estate itself comprised several large townlands and parts of others. In September 2005 during Heritage Week, Carlow Country Council acquired Duckett’s Grove and commenced the restoration of two inter-connecting walled gardens. Even in ruin, the surviving towers and turrets of Duckett’s Grove form a romantic profile making it one of the most photogenic historic buildings in the country. The first phase of the revival of two old walled gardens has now been completed, the old paths revealed and the beds and borders reinstated. Stylistically the new planting schemes echo the past yet reflect changing fashions, utilising plants and planting patterns that may have evolved over time. The Upper Walled Garden, hedged with boxwood, is planted with historical varieties of shrub roses, a collection of Chinese and Japanese peonies, a great variety of hardy and tender perennials and choice flowering shrubs including Echium, Watsonia, Acanthus, Jovellana, Daphniphyllum, Acradenia, Arbutus, Cornus, Iris, Eryngium, Beschorneria, Euporbia, and to really test the microclimate of the gardens, some ornamental bananas. The Lower Walled Garden, once the site of the old orchard, contains a variety of fruits, including figs and historical varieties of Irish apples amongst others. The borders also contain a variety of shrubs and perennials all echoing the past history of the gardens and people associated with Duckett’s Grove. Restored paths and the repaired sunken stone bridge plus plantings of oak, lime, hazel, spindle and laurel rekindle the spirit of the Georgian Pleasure Grounds.

Telephone:+353 (0)59 913 1554

Address: Ducketts Grove, Keenstown, Carlow, Republic Of Ireland

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