Fota Island Arboretum, County Cork

The gardens at Fota were begun in 1825 after John Barry-Smith, a descendant of the Earls of Barrymore who held this island from the twelfth century, commissioned Richard Morrison and his son Vitruvius to transform an old hunting box into his principal Irish residence. The Morrisons were responsible for the ancillary buildings and probably also helped with the garden layout and demesne park, whose surrounding walls and plantations were largely created at this time. The spreading lawns and Walled Garden, with its rusticated piers and wrought-iron gates, belong to John Barry-Smith's time, but it was his son James Hugh Barry-Smith who was responsible for creating the famous arboretum in the 1840s. He constructed the Fernery and the Water Garden by reclaiming a large area of boggy ground, and the Orangery and Temple soon followed. James Hugh disliked the damp climate, however, and spent much of his time away from Ireland, but his son Arthur who became the first (and last) Lord Barrymore devoted himself to Fota; with the help of his gardener William Osbourne, he laid the basis of the famous collection of trees and shrubs that it now contains. Lord Barrymore's work was continued by his son-in-law and daughter, Major and Honourable Mrs Dorothy Bell, who continued planting here until the late 1960s, adhering faithfully to old gardening traditions.

Amongst the original plantings at Fota is a marvellous Lebanese cedar planted in 1825 and undercarpeted with cyclamen. It stands on the lawn opposite the gate to the Walled Carden, where a magnificent specimen of Magnolia grandiflora 'Goliath' shades a charming little temple. The magnolias are one of Fota's special features, its most famous specimen a seventy-five-foot tall M. campbellii planted in 1872 which bears beautiful large pink flowers and traditionally said to be at its loveliest on St Patrick's Day. Other magnolias among the twelve species in the gardens include some rare hybrids, such as M. x thompsoniana, thought to be the first hybrid magnolia to be raised in western Europe.

The Fernery, essentially a large rockery planted with smaller ferns, saxifrages and Solomon's seal with huge fronds of Dicksonia antarctica hanging overhead, is a lush, green haven. Though not part of the arboretum, it is worth visiting, as is the pond with its little island and bordering of arum and white and pink lilies floating on the surface.

It is the trees at Fota, however, which distinguish this garden above all. A towering Sequoia seems to dominate the whole arboretum, while beautiful weeping spruces, silver firs, a Drimys winteri (which is said to have originated from seed collected by Elwes in the Andes in 1902), a colossal fern-leafed beech, massive lomatias and exceptional specimens of melaleuca and pseudopanax also take pride of place. Shoonng upwards, a Phyllocladus trichomanoides from New Zealand, planted in 1941, is now twenty-two-feet high, the tallest in the British Isles. And a Cryptomeria japonica 'Spiralis', planted in 1852 just ten years after its introduction, is the tallest of its kind in Europe. Here also is a huge Parrotia persica dating from 1902, a Torreya californica planted in 1852 and now thirty five-feet high, a large and very striking Davidia involucrata vilmoriniana from China, and a charming Dacrydium franklinii from Tasmania, planted in 1855 and now, at twenty-eight feet, the largest in the British Isles. At every turn the visitor will encounter superb specimens and any passion for trees should be fully indulged.

Located 9 miles east of Cork city on the Cobh Road.
NGR: W 790715.
Open daily, April to September October: weekends. Parking beside arboretum. Dogs on lead. Toilet facilities in car park. Suitable for wheelchairs. Refreshments at wildlife park. Gift shop. Admission: free for arboretum; parking fee charged.
Tel: (021) 812728.

From the Appletree Press title: Irish Gardens.