Exploring Munster

The ancient Irish province of Munster was a thorn in the side of the Normans who invaded Ireland in the 12th century. Their Tudor successors, particularly Elizabeth I, spearheaded a new attempt at conquest which led to the “Plantation” of several new counties, particularly Cork and Waterford, as English norms in religion and land management merged with an already existing and vibrant Gaelic culture. Our week in this lovely part of Ireland will allow us to trace this process through fortified towns to the castles dotted about the countryside, with their successor houses and gardens from the Georgian period much in evidence. The following centuries of rapid social, economic and political change have left an indelible mark on all we shall see as we drive along the country roads.

Since first introduced as part of our tour programme in 2005, much has changed in and around Cork and Waterford. Several important buildings and collections in Cork are closed for restoration, and this has resulted in Cork city’s temporary exclusion from our itineraries. However, this will give us the opportunity to explore Waterford, in many ways much more exciting given so much of its Viking, Medieval and Georgian past has survived, all remarkably preserved and supported by a series of marvellous new museums.

Ireland’s castles and houses are particularly well represented in Munster and we shall include such gems as Curraghmore, the seat of the Marquesses of Waterford, a Norman castle encircled by later Georgian additions, truly the longest inhabited house in Ireland by a single family. Riverstown and Kilshannig are famed for their plasterwork by the renowned stucco workers, the Lafranchini brothers. The recently restored seat of the St Leger family at Doneraile is a fine example of how the neglect of previous decades is now replaced by a more sympathetic approach.

Gardens in Ireland always look verdant in all their shades of green – probably something to do with the rain? Many of the houses are surrounded by formal parkland while later gardening trends are well represented, including the formality of terraces and water features seen at Bantry House and nearby Garnish Island, the latter designed by Harold Peto. Finally, there is the modern miniature masterpiece that is Hester Forde’s Coosheen.

The visit will concern itself not just with food for the eye, mind and soul but with food for the body: we shall stay at the renowned Ballymaloe House Hotel. Ivan and Myrtle Allen’s family have owned Ballymaloe for a long time and since opening the house to guests sixty years ago, it has gained an international reputation, both for its warm welcome and its superb food. Mrs Allen’s daughter-in-law, Darina, is known throughout the world for her work as cook, writer and inspirational teacher. We shall enjoy a family-led tour of Ballymaloe House with its important collection of modern and contemporary Irish art and also tour the nearby Cookery School Gardens.

Our evening meals will be taken at the hotel, an opportunity to sample the best produce, imaginatively presented in a unique manner. Sadly Myrtle Allen died in June of 2018, but her family continue to run Ballymaloe with the same focus on high quality country-house cuisine using the best local and seasonal ingredients.

Day 1: Sunday 5 September

We fly from Heathrow in the early afternoon to Cork. We transfer the short distance by coach to Ballymaloe and later that evening we have our first group dinner at the hotel.  Wine, water and coffee are included with all meals.

Day 2: Monday 6 September

We spend the morning discovering the magic that is Ballymaloe. A member of the Allen family will guide us around the house which has a fine collection of modern and contemporary Irish art including works by Jack Yeats. We travel the short distance to the nearby Cookery School (founded by Darina Allen) where we will be taken round the fruit and vegetable gardens which supply the school and hotel with fresh daily produce.  We travel on to Mallow and have lunch at Springfort Hall, a country house hotel, before making our way to visit the recently restored and reopened Doneraile Court, the Georgian seat of the Irish St Leger family. We have a guided tour of the house before making our way back to Ballymaloe.  We dine in the hotel.

Day 3: Tuesday 7 September

This morning we visit Riverstown House, built by an 18th century Protestant Bishop of Cork, who employed the famous Swiss-Italian Lafranchini brothers, recently arrived in Ireland, to decorate part of his house with wonderful Italian-inspired Baroque allegorical stucco. We then visit a marvellous plantswoman’s garden, Coosheen, in the nearby village of Glounthaune, created in recent years by Hester Forde, who will be our host for this private visit.  From here we drive the short distance to Fota, the estate of the Smith-Barrys, Earls of Barrymore and an ancient local landowning family. We have lunch followed by a tour of the house’s principal reception rooms. We end the afternoon with a guided walk round Fota’s renowned Arboretum, a landscape park of rare beauty, now home to a major collection of fine trees, shrubs and other horticultural rarities.  We return to Ballymaloe and dinner will be at the hotel.

Day 4: Wednesday 8 September

For sheer beauty of setting nothing quite equals Bantry House, the seat of the still resident White family, former Earls of Bantry, overlooking one of the finest bays on the Irish coast. We have a guided tour of the State Rooms after which we have a simple group lunch. We continue along the spectacular coast to Glengarriff to visit one of Ireland’s most famous horticultural gems, Garnish, on the island of Ilnacullin which is laid out to Harold Peto’s inspired designs. We have dinner at Ballymaloe.

Day 5: Thursday 9 September

Close to the border of Counties Cork and Waterford we visit Curraghmore, the seat of the Marquesses of Waterford. This is an amazing ‘secret’ house, Norman in origin, later rebuilt in the mid-18th century, further enlivened with great State Rooms by James Wyatt.  The surrounding ornamental grounds are stunning, and we shall see the famous Shell Cottage made in the 1750s by the then Countess of Tyrone, the ancestress of the present Lord Waterford.  After lunch we travel on to Waterford: Viking in origin, then the bridgehead for the Norman invasion of Ireland, it prospered through trade with the continent and beyond. Our focus will be several Museums where treasures will come ‘thick and fast’ from the finest set of late medieval Flemish church vestments of any European collection to the amazing decorative arts in furniture, silver and the original ‘Waterford’ glass. We return to Ballymaloe and have dinner at our hotel.

Day 6: Friday 10 September

For connoisseurs of 18^th century houses this morning’s private visit to Kilshannig will be a highlight. It was built for Abraham Devonsher, the local MP and a very wealthy landowner of Huguenot origin, by the Sardinian architect, Davis Ducart. It too contains even finer plasterwork by the Lafranchini brothers. The house has been meticulously restored by Hugo Merry, who will host this final lunch of the visit. We travel on to Cork Airport for the return flight to Heathrow arriving in the late afternoon.