September 24, 2013: Inisheer Island and the Cliffs of Moher, Ireland
	September 22, 2013: Traveling from Dublin to Galway, Ireland
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Today, we are going take a drive out into the Irish countryside northwest of Galway to a destination that Maire recommended to us- Kylemore Castle. There is not only a castle there, but a beautiful chapel and gardens as well.

Driving to Kylemore Castle

After breakfast at the Nile Lodge, we all piled into the van and with the directions that Maire had given us, supplemented by additional stuff from the Internet, we headed up Lower Salthill Road on our way out of Galway to the north/northwest.

From Galway, we headed north through the small towns of Moycullen and Oughterard to an intersection with Road 633. Fred and I were taking some pictures out the van windows. North of Moycullen, Fred found this country residence.

In the little town of Oughterard, the road took us right in front of the local Catholic church, then across a small stream, and then further north out into the countryside along a picturesque two‑lane road.

We turned north on a smaller, country road that led to the northwest coast of Ireland at the town of Leenaun. After we turned, almost all traces of habitation were left behind and the land rose quickly into low mountains with clouds hanging atop them. The farms that we did see in the spectacular scenery that surrounded us were very isolated. Nancy took two good pictures of this new kind of scenery, and you can see them here and here.

We drove about five miles along this road (passing some sheep along the highway) and came to a turnout where another car had stopped, and we decided to do the same. It was nice to get out of the van and have a look around. Noticing that there were no fences on the left-hand side of the road, I realized I could run up the side of the hill to get some pictures. I did take a few, but thought a panorama would be better, so I shot six pictures and put them together. The panorama is so wide that you'll need to look at the picture in a scrollable window, and there is one below:

I want to include an interesting panorama that Fred used his camera to take; it turned out looking as if he was using a fisheye lens:

Fred's Panorama at our Highway Stop

We continued on towards Leenaun, at one point having to make a left turn right in front of a small country inn and restaurant. We continued along the highway, with windows open and taking pictures. We stopped occasionally, and took pictures at those stops, too.

Click on the Image Above to View the Slideshow

The five of us took quite a few pictures as we were driving through the countryside, and the scenery was so pretty that I wanted to include a fair selection of those pictures here. I've put them into a slideshow.

To view the slideshow, just click on the image at left and I will open the slideshow in a new window. In the slideshow, you can use the little arrows in the lower corners of each image to move from one to the next, and the index numbers in the upper left of each image will tell you where you are in the series. When you are finished looking at the pictures, just close the popup window.

A few miles down the road, we came to a small country store where Prudence and Nancy wanted to stop to see if they could find something to buy.

(Mouseover Image if Video Controls Not Visible) The Little Creek Behind the Country Store

We pulled into the parking area for the shop and the girls went in to have a look around. The shop was very eclectic; there was handmade stuff and some antiques, including antique cameras ( the proprietor was something of a collector). One room was devoted to Irish woven goods, and so both Prudence and Nancy tried on sweaters.

Behind the shop was a pretty little creek. It came from the north, ran behind the shop, went under the highway, and then continued into the fields. The little stream was calm and restful, and I stood on the footbridge that crossed it and made a movie of it, a movie you can use the player at left to watch.

I got some pictures on the bridge- one of Nancy and Prudence and one of Fred.

We continued up the highway towards Leenaun, driving by the lovely rolling hills and another feature that we were to see a great deal of in the next couple of days- long low rock walls, presumably dividing properties or for the purposes of keeping stock in a confined area. In many cases, the lines ran all the way up mountainsides to the top.

A half-hour later, we reached Leenaun, a very small town at the head of what turned out to be a relatively long inlet or fjord coming in from the North Atlantic. Here, we would be turning left to head southwest to Kylemore, but before we did, there was another shop where Prudence and Nancy (and Fred and I) were able to pick up some souvenirs.

Ron, Ron and Fred at Leenaun, Ireland

Leenaun, which in Irish means "where the tide fills", is a village and 1,845 acre townland in County Galway, Ireland. It is on the shore of Killary Harbour (Ireland's only fjord), on the northern edge of Connemara, and is on the route of the Western Way long-distance trail. The village is at the junction of the N59 and R336 roads (we had come up the R336 and would be heading southwest on the N59) in a valley between the mountains of Munterowen West and Devilsmother, with a direct view of Ben Gorm mountain to the north, across the fjord.

Near the place we stopped there was a large sign with a representation of the area's land and water features; Fred took a picture of it and you can see it here. Use the clickable thumbnails below to see some additional pictures of the area around Leenaun and, in the last three pictures on the second line, Killary Harbour:

Before we left Leenaun, I stood at the overlook at the head of the fjord and took four pictures to take in the sweeping panorama of the town and the Killary Harbour. You can have a look at it below:

Leenaun and Killary Harbour

Heading southwest on the N59, a half-hour drive brought us to the entrance to Kylemore Castle and Gardens.

Kylemore Castle (nee: Kylemore Abbey)

From Leenaun, we drove generally west on N59 for about ten miles until we came to a bridge across Lake Pollacappul. We could not see Kylemore Abbey from the bridge, but a short ways beyond it we saw the signs for the right turn into Kylemore. We found the parking area with no problem.

We got entry tickets in the gift shop complex and then started walking north around the west end of Lake Pollacappul and we were treated to one of the most beautiful vistas from this trip:

Kylemore Abbey and Lake Pollacappul

The vista seemed almost unreal, it was so beautiful. We have been to a lot of castles so far on this trip, and none of them were situated in such a beautiful spot as Kylemore, but the reason for that became more apparent as we learned more of the history of the castle when we went inside.

Kylemore Abbey

Kylemore Abbey (Irish: "Mainistir na Coille Móire") is a Benedictine monastery founded in 1920 on the grounds of Kylemore Castle, in Connemara, County Galway, Ireland. The abbey was founded for Benedictine Nuns who fled Belgium in World War I. The current Mother Abbess of the Benedictine Community is Mary Margaret Funk.

Between the five of us, we must have taken thirty or forty pictures of the castle from the walkway at the west end of the lake. Fred also tried some of the artistic settings on his camera for two of the pictures (first two thumbnails, first row). I have whittled the 40 pictures down to just eight and, even though they might be a bit repetitive, each has something interesting to recommend it. There are clickable thumbnails below that you can use to see these pictures:

As you can see in the picture above, left, there is a terrace in front of the ground floor of the abbey, and that is where we went next. Following the walkway along the west side of the lake, we had excellent views of the castle and amazing views of Lake Pollacappul. Between the castle and the lake is a paved walkway that leads east along the north side of the lake; this path, which we followed later, leads to the chapel. But from the walkway, down below the terrace, the view up at Kylemore Castle was really good. Just past the walkway there was a small garden and, off to the left, at the beginning of the mile-long pathway to the Gardens and in the middle of a circular walk, there was a sculpture of Jesus. We ascended the flight of stairs up to the terrace and the main entrance to the Abbey.

The Facade of Kylemore Abbey from the Abbey Terrace

Kylemore Castle was built as a private home for the family of Mitchell Henry, a wealthy doctor from London, whose family was in textile manufacturing from Manchester, England. He moved to Ireland, when he and his wife, Margaret, purchased the land around the Abbey. Mitchell became a politician, and was also an MP for County Galway from 1871 to 1885.

The castle was designed by James Franklin Fuller, initially together with Ussher Roberts. Construction first began in 1867, and took one hundred men four years to complete. The castle covered approximately 40,000 square feet and had over 70 rooms; the principal wall was two to three feet thick.

The facade (shown at left) is 142 feet in length and is made of granite brought from Dalkey by sea to Letterfrack and limestone from Ballinasloe. There were 33 bedrooms, 4 bathrooms, 4 sitting rooms, ballroom, billiard room, library, study, school room, smoking room, gun room and various offices and domestic staff residences for the butler, cook, housekeeper and other servants. Several other buildings on the grounds include a Gothic cathedral and family mausoleum containing the bodies of Margaret Henry, Mitchell Henry and a great grand nephew.

The Abbey remained in Henry's estate after he returned to England, and the castle was sold to the Duke and Duchess of Manchester in 1909.

On the Terrace of Kylemore Abbey

They resided there several years, before being forced to sell the house and grounds to pay off the Duke's gambling debts. In 1920 the Irish Benedictine Nuns purchased the Abbey castle and lands after they were forced to flee Ypres, Belgium during World War I. Previously, the nuns, who had been based in Ypres for several hundred years, had been bombed out of their Abbey during World War I. The nuns continued to offer education to Catholic girls, and opened an international boarding school and established a day school for local girls. They were forced to close the school in June 2010.

The views from the terrace were just amazing. In addition to the lake and the mountains beyond, there were also views of the castle from different angles. A tour was about to start, so we headed in through the main entrance.

We took a tour of the areas of Kylemore Abbey that were open to the public; all of the upstairs rooms and offices are still in use by the Benedictine Nuns. I have no diagram of the house itself, so I'll just break the tour down room-by-room.

Foyer/Entry Hall

Coming in the front door, we arrived in a foyer with the entry hall off to our right; this is where we queued up for our tour.

Entry Hall

The entry hall was kind of nondescript, although it did have nice woodwork- particularly the stairway behind the reception desk. There was also a skylight. You can see two more views of the entry hall here and here. Probably the most interesting feature of this room was the carved stairway and coffered ceiling.

Throughout the house, there were lots of signs with a great deal of interesting information about the house, its history, its owners and its contents. Rather that transcribe this information into text, I will just list the titles of these signs as links. If you find the title interesting, and want to read the sign, just click on the title and I'll open a scrollable window with the sign made large enough that you can read it. Here are the signs in the entry hall:

After a fifteen-minute wait, our tour guide showed up, gathered us together, gave us some of the same history you read above, and we were off into the first room- the one to the right of the entry hall as you face the Abbey.

The Drawing Room

The Drawing Room- East End

Our first stop was the Drawing Room- equivalent to our living room. It was the place where guests were entertained. The drawing room here at Kylemore had an ornate early phonograph as well as a piano and card tables. You can read this room's two signs by clicking on the links below:

You can see a picture of the west end of this comfortable room here. The room also featured a portrait of Margaret as well as a carved, white marble fireplace. Prudence got what I thought was a very good picture of one of the carved fireplace figures. There was a good deal of ornate china in the room, and Fred got a very nice closeup of some of it; have a look at his picture here.

Our tour continued as we left the far northeast corner of the room.

The Benedictine Nuns' Room

The next room, north of the drawing room, was a display room- something like you might see in a museum- devoted to the relationship between the Benedictine Nuns and Kylemore.

I can't tell you who all the nuns are whose pictures were all around the room; they have been at Kylemore for a long time. As you can see, there were display cases with various items of importance.

The signage in this room told a story- the story of the relationship between the Benedictine Nuns and Kylemore. I think you'll find the story an interesting one, and you can read the signs, in order, using the links below:

From the display room, we went out the west side of the room into the dining room.

The Dining Room

Our tour took us along the south side of the large, well-appointed dining room.

The Main Dining Room at Kylemore Abbey

One of the most interesting features of the dining room, I thought, was the alcove housing the buffet- a very nice touch that keeps the piece of furniture from protruding into the room.

At left are clickable thumbnails for three more views of the dining room. And below are two links that you can use to read the two signs that describe the dining room (and some other rooms of the castle):

The Billiard Room/Turkish Bath

From the dining room, we made our way back to the entrance; the dining room was the last of the rooms we actually went through. You can see the approximate route of our short tour on the diagram at left, and you can also see that there were a great many other rooms here in the castle. I thought the tour could have been longer, but the castle is still, primarily, an abbey.

There were two more signs describing two of the rooms we did not visit; these signs were located in the hallway at the end of the dining room. You can read them by clicking on the links below:

When our tour was concluded, we went back out the entrance into the bright sunlight on the terrace, again to be greeted by the view of lovely Lake Pollacappul. Next, we'll be following the path along the north side of the lake eastward to the Kylemore Chapel.

The Chapel at Kylemore Abbey

From the Abbey, we walked eastward alongside the beautiful lake to get to Kylemore Cathedral.

Lake Pollacappul

The lakeside walkway took us on a shady, quarter-mile walk to the cathedral. We stopped a couple of places along the way, just to enjoy the beautiful afternoon and the beautiful scenery. At one point, there was a stop where kids could put their faces through the figure of a bear and have their pictures taken. Fred got a nice picture of a cute little kid doing just that, and you can see that picture here. There were also a few places with benches for admiring the view; Fred and I took advantage of them.

Below are clickable thumbnails for a few more pictures we took on our way along the lake to the Cathedral:

The walk to the cathedral took us about fifteen minutes, and it was fifteen minutes well-spent.

In 1874, Mitchell Henry and his beloved wife Margaret holidayed in Egypt – an exotic and popular destination in Victorian times. Sadly, tragedy struck on the River Nile. Margaret contracted dysentery and died sixteen days later. She was beautiful, 45 years old and a mother of nine.

Kylemore Cathedral

“It is not our mistress we have lost, but our mother” said one tenant as the distraught Mitchell had Margaret’s body embalmed and brought back to Connemara so that she could be laid to rest at her beloved Kylemore. He could not bear the thought of having her lie in the cold ground of a foreign country.

Mitchell wanted to show his love for Margaret in a way that would last through time. He immediately set about commissioning the architect J.F. Fuller to create a "cathedral-in-miniature" in Margaret's honor. The beautiful gothic church is a testament of his love for her. Originally, the Gothic Church was a place of Anglican worship. Following the arrival of the Benedictine Nuns to Kylemore, it was re-dedicated as a Catholic Church in 1920.

Today, Kylemore Cathedral (a bit incorrectly named in that no Bishop ever used the small church as his seat) it is used to host musical recitals, poetry readings and cross-community celebrations, but it will always be what it originally was- Margaret's Memorial, created by her husband.

Of the many exterior shots of the Cathedral that we took, the one at left and the three that you can see here (me on the walk up to the Cathedral), here (Fred with the Cathedral behind him) and here (Nancy, Prudence and Fred at the Cathedral) are the best.

All of us admired the outside of this little Gothic gem. For example, the gargoyles on the limestone exterior are classic marks of cathedral architecture- but these are angelic creatures telling of peace. The overall design has visual links with Bristol and Norwich Cathedrals. Below are clickable thumbnails for some of the other good pictures we took of the architectural detail of the exterior of the Kylemore Cathedral:

We went inside the cathedral, and found that the contrast between the interior and exterior stone was striking.

Inside Kylemore Cathedral

Inside, colored marbles from the four provinces of Ireland are set against a light yellow sandstone from Italy. "The carvings of the interior are breathtaking," say the experts, graceful and feminine with delicately-shaped floweers and birds of beauty incised in the sandstone.

At the front of the nave, just in front of the windows, there was a crucifix- something I hadn't seen before in the churches we'd toured (though I might have been too far away to notice it). In any event, Guy got a nice closeup of the crucifix.

The superb stained glass windows remind us of the Five Graces of Fortitude, Faith, Charity, Hope and Chastity. Oddly (or perhaps not, as I am no expert on Gothic church architecture or practices), the windows at the back of the nave were not done in stained glass, but in small square panes.

The interior was quite charming and very pretty, and I have put clickable thumbnails below for four more pictures we took of the interior of this small church:

There were four signs here in the church that you might want to read, and you can do so by clicking on the links below:

While were here at the Cathedral, we thought that we would walk a bit further to see the Mitchell Mausoleum. To get there, we left the church and went back down to the walkway to continue east. As we passed below the church, we got a nice view looking up at the Kylemore Cathedral.

The Mitchell Family Mausoleum

A further short walk brought us to the Mausoleum itself. You can see a view of it from the front here.

There was a sign right outside the mausoleum. It read: "Here lies the remains of Margaret Henry (1829-1874) who died tragically while on holiday in Egypt just 4 years after the castle at Kylemore was constructed. Her body was brought back to Kylemore by her husband Mitchell Henry."

It continued: "Mitchell Henry (1826-1910), who built Kylemore Castle, died in England. His ashes were brought nack to Kylemore and laid to rest next to his beloved wife Margaret in accordance with his final wishes."

It concluded with: "The remains of John Henry, a grandnephew of Mitchell Henry who died 13th February 1989, were laid to rest in the mausoleum."

From the secluded glen where the Mausoleum was located, we walked back to the pathway that would lead us back to the Castle. Coming from this direction, there was a very nice view of Kylemore Cathedral through the trees. We retraced our path back towards Kylemore Castle, coming back to it but taking the walkway path below the Castle, rather than returning to the terrace. Fred got out in front to take a picture of Nancy and Prudence on the walkway. Back at the beginning of the lake path, we met up with Karl and Ron.

Next, we will all be heading over to the Victorian Walled Garden.

The Victorian Walled Garden at Kylemore Abbey

The Kylemore Estate includes a large walled Victorian Garden, which has been open since the 1970s, offering public tours and 'nature' walks. The Benedictine community has restored the Abbey's gardens and Cathedral with donations and local artisans, in order to be a self-sustaining estate. The actual gardens are about a mile west of the Castle, so Fred, Karl, Prudence and Nancy took the little tram, while the rest of us walked along the road to the gardens. Below is a diagram that will show you where the gardens were in relation to the Castle and Cathedral:

We arrived at the Garden at different times; for a while, Guy, Ron and I couldn't locate the rest of the group, who we thought would have arrived before we did.

At the Kylemore Walled Garden Tea House

It turned out, as you can see from the estate map above, that the shuttle did not go directly to the gardens, but rather took a fairly slow, circuitous route down by another of Kylemore's lakes, so those on it arrived after we did, even though we were walking. The shuttle also stopped a few times for picture-taking, an opportunity that Nancy took advantage of. Below are clickable thumbnails for some of the pictures she took on their ride to the gardens:

When Ron, Guy and I got to the gardens and didn't see the others, Ron went off to smoke a cigar while Guy and I began to walk through the garden. Still not seeing anyone else, we left the garden temporarily to see if we could find them. We did- up by the gift shop and cafe; this was also where the shuttle let them off.

We were all reunited, so we took the opportunity to have an afternoon snack before returning to the garden. And while we were doing that, I walked out onto the lawn to create a three-shot panorama of the area; you can see it below:

The award-winning 6 acre Victorian Walled Garden was built by Mitchell Henry at the same time as the construction of Kylemore Castle between 1867 and 1871. Its construction was guided by Mitchell's French head gardener, James Garnier.

The garden was one of the last walled gardens to be built during the Victorian period in Ireland and is the only Walled Garden constructed in bogland (peatland). The garden was so advanced for the time that it was compared in magnificence with Kew Gardens in London.

Under the ownerships of The Duke and Duchess of Manchester and then Ernest Fawke, the garden went into decline. In time the flower garden became a wilderness and the glasshouses collapsed, leaving only their brick bases.

In 1996, the Benedictine Community, who have always used the garden, began restoration works with the help of grant aid, large bank loans and the generosity of donors. To date, two of the glasshouses have been rebuilt along with the Head Gardener’s House and Workman’s Bothy. The Garden was re-opened in 1999 and won the prestigious Europa Nostra Award in 2002.

Although I could have used an aerial view of the garden here, the resolution was not so good as it is in more populated areas, and so I think that a garden diagram, like the one at left, will be a better choice. I'll indicate our general route and the various stops we made, keying them to the sections below. And although Guy and I had already taken some pictures, I'll integrate them with the circle that we made through the garden after our light lunch.

After that relaxing lunch, four of us, all except Karl and Ron, headed off to tour the gardens. (Guy had already wandered through most of the garden, but he went in a different direction than we did.) The garden comprises of roughly 6 acres and is divided in two by a natural mountain stream. The eastern half comprises of the flower or pleasure garden, glass houses and gardeners’ houses, and this is the area we'll visit first.

The Formal Garden- East Wall

We began our tour of the Victorian Walled Garden by going through the garden entrance that is just north of the Tea House.

The Victorian Walled Garden as Seen from the South Entry

The Formal Flower Garden is an excellent example of a planting style of the late Victorian era. In keeping with the spirit of conservation and restoration, the Victorian Walled Garden has been restored to original plans and contains only plant varieties from Victorian times.

Back in the Castle, there were two signs describing the restoration of the gardens; you can read them by clicking on the two links below:

The geometrically-shaped flower beds are filled with brightly colored annuals and perennials. The beds are set in lawns, interspersed with more permanent trees and shrubs.

Looking South Along the East Garden Wall

This being a walled garden, we began by turning right just inside the entrance and going over to the walkway along the east wall. Along this wall there were three rows of plants (one of which was, I think, a kind of mum), alternating red-white-red. The wall itself had some vines planted along its base, and I presume they will eventually cover the wall, which will be quite pretty. We walked down the south side of the east walk and then up the north side, from which point there was a nice view back along the walkway.

Fred also got a nice view back along the east wall from a position right next to the glass houses, and that is the view that I have put at right.

As we were walking down and then up the east walkway, we took pictures of each other (staring right into the sun, naturally); there are clickable thumbnails below for these pictures:

This brought us to a position near the northeast corner of the gardens, right near the glass houses.

The Glass Houses (Greenhouses) and Vinery

At this stage of our visit we entered the once-spectacular glasshouse area where exotic plants and fruit grew in a dramatic range of glasshouses.

The Lean-To Glasshouse

The twenty-one glasshouse complex was designed by Cranstons of Birmingham and included four vineries, a peach house, a tropical plant house, a banana house, a display house, tomato, nectarine, and melon houses, a fig and palm house and two ferneries.

The glasshouses would also have served as an enclosed winter walk for ladies on the often-too-common wet day in Connemara. One can only imagine the joy and euphoria of walking through a scent-filled tropical plant house and enjoying "bananas in the wilds of Connemara" in the late 1800s.

The restoration of the glasshouses is part of the larger restoration of the gardens, although not all of the original glasshouses will be rebuilt- only about five of them. To date, only two of the original glasshouses have been restored, namely the East vinery and the lean‑to vinery. Underneath the floral arch, with its restored cast iron pillars, small formal flower beds known as parterre beds are found. Victorian style baskets are hanging on the arches. A monkey puzzle tree forms a centerpiece for the beds, as in former times.

You can use the clickable thumbnails below to have a look at a selection of the other pictures that we took here around the restored glasshouses:

We continued across the north side of the walled garden to look at some of the other buildings in the gardens.

Bothy and Outbuildings

Across the area west of the restored glasshouses where there is currently a small patio garden with hanging baskets, is an area that reveals the foundations of a number of old outbuildings as well as the Bothy.

The Bothy at Kylemore Gardens

"Bothy" is a Scottish word used to denote a small cottage for farm laborers (or a "mountain refuge," as it turns out). In the past, the Bothy here at Kylemore was home to at least six under-gardeners. Here in this small cottage, the daily chores of the Garden would be planned and talked over. Cooking, eating, washing and sleeping would all be performed in this tiny area. It contained the very basics for a simple, hardworking life and strongly reflected the lower-class standard of living of the Victorian era.

Use the clickable thumbnails below to see three views of the inside of the bothy:

Other outbuildings consisted of a mushroom house with loft over, tool house and store room, paint store and fruit store. Of the outbuildings, little remains save their foundations. In the tool shed building there was a display of old tools, althouugh they may not be original.

Fred got a nice picture of Nancy and I talking as we left the bothy, and also a nice view of the bothy and the gardens beyond, taken from our next stop, the Head Gardener's Cottage. You can see that last view here. Mitchell Henry had many innovative ideas, some of which he used in his garden; a good example was the Lime Kiln. The Kiln provided some of the heating required for the glasshouses. Limestone and marble from the area was burned here, and the heat produced by the kiln heated water which ran through about a mile of 4-inch cast iron pipes. The pipes were arranged beneath each glasshouse and heat was generated through the soil and through decorative, circular brass grilles in the floors. Some of these pipes and grilles can still be seen today- rusty, but still in their original positions. The burnt remains of the lime from the lime kiln were used as a fertilizer which helped to make the Victorian garden more fertile and self-sufficient.

The Head Gardener's Cottage

Along the north side of the gardens, approximately in the center, the Head Gardener's Cottage stood. It had a view of the nearby Bothy as well as an expansive view of the garden.

The Head Gardener's Cottage

In contrast to the Bothy, this house was home to the most important person in the Garden hierarchy. The Head Gardener was usually well-qualified and experienced. He held a prestigious job, and this was reflected in his household. It was necessary to provide a substantial house to attract and keep a well-established head gardener. From the Head Gardener's Cottage, where he lived with his family, he managed the produce of the garden.

We were able to walk through the house, which contained period furnishings. In the front room, Nancy asked me to take a picture of her and her sister, and you can see it here.

You can use the clickable thumbnails below to see pictures of most of the rooms in the Head Gardener's Cottage:

From the Head Gardener's Cottage, we continued our walk along the north side of the garden.

Mountain Stream and Informal Woodland

Just adjacent to the Head Gardener's Cottage are two small gardens- the Kitchen Garden and the Flower Garden. Both gardens seemed to be making use of cold frames- glass-covered boxes that are actually miniature greenhouses. The two gardens were separated by a mountain stream forming a series of shallow falls in its course and adding a pretty central feature.

The Mountain Stream

From the Kylemore Book of Sale (1894), we get this description: "The mountain stream from Lough Toucher brings water and ornamentation to the garden. The area is planted with beech, oak, sycamore, horse chestnut- a mix of conifers and evergreens. Ferns, Lily of the Valley and geraniums flourish near the stream in the shade of this attractive wood."

The trees were planted to give the Formal Flower Garden protection from the prevailing winds. There were no trees around the Garden or on the mountain behind when the wall was built and the Garden made. Mitchell Henry planted thousands of trees, mostly native Oak, and some conifers on the mountain, and every kind of tree to line the avenues, and on the better land- Oak, Ash, Elm, Beech, Lime, Macrocarpa, Scotch Pine, Silver Fir, Ghestnut, Spanish Chestnut, and many more, most of which can still be seen. Today, the Garden continues this tradition of planting a quantity of young trees each year.

I was actually too close to the trees, which began here and spread down into the garden along the stream, to get good pictures of them, but in some later views from the south side of the garden, you will be able to see them in the distance.

The Rockery

We now found ourselves in almost the far back corner of the garden, in an area called the Rockery.

The Rockery

This corner forms an integral part of the Garden configuration as the very nature of the Garden tends to be dry and rocky in parts. Mitchell Henry formed a section of the Rockery by the use of dynamite blasting which forged out space for plants to grow and also helped create "holding ponds" which he used to provide a supply of water for his plants. The blasting allowed Henry to be one of the first to use hydro-electric power, which he harnessed from the lake to supply him, not only with electricity for his Castle, but also to run some garden machinery. As well as typical rockery plants, the Rockery also boasts Walnut trees and impressive Yew trees together with some old Hollies.

Below are clickable thumbnails for a few other pictures that we took in the area of the Rockery:

We continued to the far back corner of the garden, where we were at the top of the garden section devoted to edibles.

The Kitchen and Herb Garden

The Herb Garden was in the back northwest corner of the Walled Garden; indeed, many of the fruit trees were planted against those walls.

The Kitchen and Herb Garden

An interesting feature of the kitchen garden is the original sycamore hedge which, instead of taking the form of mature trees, was trained in hedge form. Cherry, plum and pear trees are planted against the walls. This is known as espalier, which is ideal for a walled garden as the brick retains the heat which helps the fruit to ripen. Herbs from the herb garden feature daily in dishes served at Mitchell's Cafe at Kylemore Abbey.

Below are clickable thumbnails for some of the best of the pictures we took here in the Herb Garden, which is just the north half of the Kitchen Garden:

I stayed up in the northwest corner of the garden for a little while, just admiring the views out across the entire Walled Garden.

(Mouseover Image if Video Controls Not Visible) Walking down the Herb Garden to the Herbaceous Border

The east half of the Victorian Walled Garden was given over to flowering plants; the kitchen garden made up the other half of the garden and was predominantly given over to the growing of food. Originally, the gardens featured 21 glass houses where exotic fruits and vegetables were cultivated. The grapes and melons served during dinner parties at both the castle and at the Henry's London residence were all cultivated in those glass structures.

More recently, this garden has supplied all the fruit, vegetable, herb and cut flower requirements of the Castle. This section of the Garden is divided into four irregular-shaped plots. Old varieties of soft fruit such as gooseberries and currants were grown on fences running North to South.

Leaving the northwest corner of the garden, I walked south along the walkways to rejoin Prudence, Nancy and Fred. I made a movie as I went, and you can watch it with the player at right. It was interesting in that just as I began making my movie, Nancy happened to take a picture of me at top of the herb garden.

While the top of the kitchen garden was devoted to herbs, the southern, lower portion, was devoted to vegetables.

Vegetables in the Kylemore Kitchen Garden

When we got to the bottom of the Kitchen garden, we could look back up the hill on the west end of the Kylemore Victorian Walled Garden and see the entire "edible" garden; you can have a look at that view here. There were some nice views from this part of the garden, and Fred and Nancy also took closeup pictures of some of the plants that were growing here. You can use the clickable thumbnails below to see some of their pictures:

(In case you are interested, "courgette" is French for zucchini.)

We were now in the southwest corner of the gardens, having originally entered at the southeast corner, so we had to make our way back there.

The Herbaceous and Shrub Borders (The Central Pathway)

We've finished looking at the north side of the Victorian Walled Garden, having proceeded east to west. Now we are in the southwest corner, ready to work our way back east, on the south side of the garden's central pathway. To orient you, let me repeat the garden diagram I used above.

We've learned a lot more about the Victorian Walled Garden as we have walked through it. In the diagram, you can now see that the entire western half of the garden is devoted to herbs and other edibles, arranged in geometric plots. You can also see the Rockery and the beginning of the mountain stream that flows southward through the middle of the garden. To the east of that is the garden's floral area.

From north to south, you can see that the garden's central pathway is actually about two-thirds of the way south through the garden, rather than right in the middle, and we are now going to work our way east here in the southern one-third of the garden.

In Victorian gardens, garden borders were something of an art form. Each professional gardener chose a border appropriate to the function of the garden. In large gardens, multiple types of borders might be used. Here in the Kylemore Victorian Walled Garden, two types of borders were employed- one type along the garden's central pathway, and another in other areas of the garden.

Along the garden's central pathway, between the garden's west wall and the mountain stream that flows through the garden from north to south (dividing the "edible" portion of the garden on the west from the "floral" portion on the east) the Kylemore gardeners chose to use a herbaceous border.

The Herbaceous Border (The Garden's Central Pathway, Looking West from the Mountain Stream)

A herbaceous border is a garden border containing mainly perennial flowering plants. The Herbaceous Border at Kylemore is especially interesting as it boasts a double-sided border and is one of the longest in Ireland. The selection of flowering perennial plants (plants that die back naturally and regenerate in the following year) provides a spectacular display of color during the summer season, and leaves a lasting impression on both the gardener and non-gardener alike.

The Herbaceous Border (Looking East from Its Western End)

In the Victorian era, it was thought incorrect for garden visitors to be able to see the Kitchen Garden or even see the under-gardeners work, and so the herbaceous border came into being. The Escallonia macranthus hedge on either side of the Herbaceous Border, and the Box hedges enclosing the vegetable plots, provided screens so as to minimize the Victorians' view of the Kitchen garden and its workers. Class differences, it seems, were alive even here amongst the plants!

In some contrast to the Herbaceous Border along the central pathway, the shrub border along the South wall contains various woody flowering shrubs which are labelled with their botanical names. The shrubs are planted in a regular arrangement that was fashionable at the end of the 19th century. Elsewhere in the gardens, low shrub borders were used to delineate garden sections, or enclose smaller plots.

From the half-moon-shaped seating area (a replica of an original Victorian bench), one has a perfect overview of the Flower Garden and the glasshouse arrangement.

From a point along the south wall of the garden, I put three individual pictures together to create a panorama of the western two-thirds of the Victorian Walled Garden; you can see that panorama below:

A Panoramic View of the Herb and Kitchen Gardens at Kylemore

We walked eastward along the south wall until we came to a pathway that turned north and led through the trees and a fern dell alongside the mountain stream to bring us back to the garden's central pathway. There, we found Guy again; he was waiting for us in the shady area of the central pathway. I sat down on a bench so Guy could get a picture, and then we walked the rest of the way along the central path to the east wall of the garden. There, I got a picture of Guy alongside that central path, looking west, and you can see that picture here.

Click on the Image Above to View the Slideshow

We were back at the gate in the east wall, so we walked back up the path to the entry near the Tea House. The gardens where quite pretty, and fascinating in spots, and it was a great way to spend a few hours. There are some additional garden pictures, mostly of individual plants, that I should include here, and there is a slideshow for these pictures at left. Before you look at those, though, you should definitely take a look at what I thought was Fred's best picture of the day.

To view the slideshow, just click on the image at left and I will open the slideshow in a new window. In the slideshow, you can use the little arrows in the lower corners of each image to move from one to the next, and the index numbers in the upper left of each image will tell you where you are in the series. When you are finished looking at the pictures, just close the popup window.

Guy had come to tell us that Karl and Ron had returned to the entrance area and were waiting for us there; the rest of us sat down near the Tea House to wait for the shuttle back. While we were waiting, Fred and I were experimenting with some of the "artistic" settings on our cameras; both are from the same manufacturer and have similar features, although Fred's is more the size of a 35mm camera. Some of the experimental pictures we took were interesting, and so for what it's worth, I have put clickable thumbnails for them below:

Our visit to Kylemore was immensely enjoyable, all of the castle, the church and the gardens were interesting. Now we will be returning to Galway.

We Return to Galway

After waiting at the gardens for twenty minutes or so, the shuttle arrived and took us back to the little circular drive right by the castle and entrance. As Guy had told us would be the case, we found Ron and Karl on the patio near the cafe and gift shop at the entrance, and so we sat down to wait with them while the girls went inside to see if they could find any enticing souvenirs. When they were done, we returned to the van and headed off back to Galway.

If you remember the map at the beginning of this page, we took a different route back, completing a large circle out here on the chunk of land between Killary Harbor and Galway Bay. Much of our trip was along the various inlets from the North Atlantic, and the scenery in the afternoon sun was quite pretty. I took a bunch of good pictures on the way back, and you can use the clickable thumbnails below to have a look at them:

Back at the Nile Lodge, we got another restaurant recommendation from Maire, this one for a local, typically Irish place. The dinner was quite good, and the group thought the wines were exceptional. Well, all except me. I wouldn't know an exceptional wine if it bit me on the butt.

You can use the links below to continue to another photo album page.

	September 24, 2013: Inisheer Island and the Cliffs of Moher, Ireland
	September 22, 2013: Traveling from Dublin to Galway, Ireland
	Return to the Index for Our British Isles Trip