Stoneyford Active Retirement Group
15 Meitheamh 2022
SARG visits Curraghmore House and Gardens
On Wednesday 16th of June last SARG undertook their final tour before the members broke up for the Summer. The destination this time was Curraghmore House near Portlaw in county Waterford. Curraghmore is a really well kept secret as most people in the group were not aware of its existence. Bearing in mind that it is in the continuous ownership of the La Poer family since 1177. The La Poer family came with the first flush of Normans and managed to grab 100,000 acres at one stage in our history.
The current house went through many iterations over the centuries and at present the house sits on circa 3,500 acres, 1000 of which is in woodland. We had great difficulty finding Curraghmore as you can imagine an estate that big has more than one entrance (five actually). Our group got separated on the way and as a result we did not all enter through the same gate, the avenues leading to the house are so long that it is possible to lose heart and imagine that the avenue picked could not possibly be the correct one. As the estate was deliberately planned all avenues join together just before the entrance to the house courtyard, just like fingers on a hand and eventually everyone arrived punctually and our tour of the house began.
Our guide was Alan, a most affable and knowledgeable man and we could not have asked for better. As the house is still a residence for the La Poer family we were slightly restricted in where we could go. He brought us through the main rooms in the house.As we progressed he told us stories of events long past, answered all of the many and varied questions asked and where an object or painting begged a question which did not arrive Alan told us all there was to know.
When the formal tour of the house ended we were give free reign of the garden with no time restriction placed on us. One of the features of the estate is the shell house, this is a must for all who visit.
The gardens are well kept and are on such a grand scale that it is impossible to fully explore them in one day. Like all gardens seasonal visits are required in order to enjoy the different treasures afforded by nature. There are some wonderful vistas from every section and the enormous scale lends itself to this. As well as the de rigueur artificial lake there is a fountain, at least one, and many spectacular castings and sculptures throughout the estate. A good day was had by all.
