LOUGH ESKE CASTLE

It is amazing what can be achieved when you put your mind to it.

I returned to the Solis Castle Hotel (Donegal’s first five star hotel), on Lough Eske this week after a six-year interval. The gardens are looking fantastic, thanks to the hard work of Inishowen landscaper, John McDermott of Mac’s landscapes from Ballymagan who has the contract for bringing the gardens up to their original standard.

Lough Eske Castle and gardens can be traced back to the late 1400’s when the O’Donnell family that founded Donegal town owned it. The rolling grounds lead down to the Lough and the house is totally surrounded by woodland. The original castle was first built around 1474. A date stone of 1621 remains on the property to this day. The current Lough Eske Castle was constructed in the 1860s on the site of an old Brooke mansion, but was destroyed by fire in 1939. Up until very recently the castle and ground have been allowed to fall into serious disrepair.

DERELICT
My family and I went to visit the derelict castle in 2002 and we heard at the time that there was talk of refurbishing the building. The building itself had more or less disappeared except for the front, with its grand castellations around the top of the walls. Trees were growing out of the top of the building and time had eroded the sandstone.

At some stage in the early thirties, the walled garden next to the house had been planted up with conifers, which had grown so tall and dense that you couldn’t get to the far wall. The grounds were extraordinary, with large specimen trees that had obviously been planted hundreds of years ago by someone with a vision, like Capability Brown.

REBUILDING
The house has now been totally rebuilt and extended and for the last year, John and his team have been working to refurbish the gardens. They did a lot of the work in the winter when we were all hibernating in the warm. Now the growing season is with us it is apparent what has been achieved. “The ground is sandy but still very wet.” says John. “There are also a lot of either sunny or shady spots. This influences the type of planting we can put in around the buildings.”

The walled garden has been cleared and thankfully the tree roots didn’t damage the red brick wall surrounding the site. John has used these walls well. “I am planting them with climbers and using the rich red colours of the bricks to set off the shrubs along the beds. The south facing wall would have been where nectarines and plums were grown and also is where the greenhouse would have been,” he informs me.

PARTERRE
There has been very careful planting to create a parterre. This is a large formal garden that is surrounded by a neatly clipped box hedge, the type of thing you see in old stately homes of this period. “We planted loads of different types of herbs to re-create the old herb garden of the house.” Privacy is all-important too for guests at the hotel and John took this into consideration “Careful planting of a yew screen in front of the sauna and swimming pool has made an area of total privacy” he comments. John also enjoys using structural plants such as phormiums and grasses, these have been planted next to the gravel pathways to make a clean and attractive feature.

There is a real attention to detail on the lawns as well. John has put in a lot of grass areas to soften the gardens and to keep up with modern health and safety regulations. “The edges of the grass have been reinforced with a stiff mesh. This will allow the emergency service vehicles to drive on them without damage, should the need arise,” he says.

STATUES
Complementing the designs of the estate are bronze statues and fountains. Resting figures reading books or gardening, jumping salmon and flying swans have been carefully placed to bring calm to visitors. John was more than happy to show me around his work and he is very pleased with how it is progressing. “There were times in the middle of winter when we were sinking in the mud and things got very messy” John commented as he was showing me the new area he is planting up in the car park. “But we stuck at it and look what we have achieved.”

In just a few months, John and his team has managed to bring these neglected gardens back to life. Yes, that is an achievement!