Situated in the heart of Ireland, halfway between the historic towns of Birr and Roscrea and boasting two acres of bramble-filled walled gardens built of Tipperary sandstone, is a period property, gardens and grounds gifted to the Royal Horticultural Society of Ireland (RHSI) by architect and garden designer Angela Jupe, who had a keen eye for homes with good bones but in need of rehabilitation.
Built circa 1810-1820, it was originally the hunting lodge of the Duke of Rochester and was later enlarged to house a thriving stud business, with the house and grounds owned through the years by stud farming families until the 1970s, when the last owner, a Mr Willington, died. With no family bequest, the grounds, which amounted to 1,000 acres, were placed in the hands of the Land Commission. Bellefield House and gardens were subsequently purchased by a veterinary surgeon, after which the property was bought at auction in 2004 by Jupe. The house, says its head gardener Paul Smyth, had been lived in, “but all of the extensive buildings at the back weren’t really touched for about 30 years. Angela spent the last 15-16 years of her life restoring it and bringing it back to where it is now.”
A gift to garden lovers
The story of RHSI Bellefield House and Gardens couldn’t be told without putting Jupe’s interventions into context. Her determination, passion and skill turned the somewhat dilapidated Georgian farmhouse with its neglected stone stables and weed-strewn grounds into a retreat for gardeners, artists and avidly interested visitors. Before her death in 2021 she bequeathed the property to the RHSI.
Bellefield House wasn’t the first of her projects, says Smyth. “She would have bought and sold, I think, about eight different period properties throughout her life, and before she bought Bellefield, she had restored Fancroft Mill House, which is just outside Roscrea. She was always interested in the challenges that came with properties. She arrived at Bellefield when she was in her mid-60s, a time when most people wouldn’t dream of being involved with such a project, but she relished the idea, and went for it.”
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The task of getting to grips, literally, with what needed to be done at Bellefield House didn’t discourage Angela. Indeed, she is remembered as a person for whom no gardening challenge was too much. Smyth trained with her as a horticultural student, spending a year under her tutelage. “She was a hard taskmaster and wasn’t afraid to tell you if something was wrong,” he says with a smile. “She was always keen that you learn from your mistakes. and was very much into the idea that gardening is something you have to practice, that people should do it rather than talk about it. She used to say to me that students would come to Bellefield and not know anything when it came to practical gardening.”
An only child whose Co Tipperary aunt had nurtured her enthusiasm for horticulture, following the death of her father, Angela and her mother moved to Clontarf. Studying architecture at UCD, she graduated in the late 1960s and worked for several Dublin-based firms.
In 1984, she established her personal architectural practice, focusing on period restoration. She soon combined her professional knowledge with her love of gardening, setting up specialist companies, including Traditional Gardening, which concentrated on design and construction, and Garden Furnishing, which indulged her appreciation of architectural salvaging, stocking everything from an abundance of antiques to statuary at a time when the collection of such material wasn’t particularly valued.
Relaxed approach
In comparison to her training and work as an architect, Jupe wasn’t interested in what she once described as “serious formality”. I like relaxed gardens – you never know what you can find,” she said.
Her restoration work included the original two-acre walled garden, which boasts an Indian-style folly nestling between apple trees and adding a 30m rill, a small stream, lined with Iris ensata, and pond to the Neptune glasshouse garden.
An enthusiasm for collecting plants has gifted the garden with one of the largest snowdrop gatherings in Ireland – there are thousands of them. At the side of the house is a wild area that includes Mexican dahlias, wild species of rosewater, heritage and rare daffodils, Chinese peonies, French roses and extraordinary rose trees.
The gardens are quite special, if not unique, says Smyth. “A lot of the features Angela created were from the items she had salvaged, so there are some fantastic and quirky features. The two-acre walled garden is a gardener’s dream. In fact, that’s partly why Angela bought Bellefield because she told me she had always wanted a walled garden.”
The setting of the garden itself is beautiful, also, he continues. “The buildings that were restored in the back are gorgeous, and we have wildlife – owls, red squirrels, and newts in the pond. We also have bee orchids, which are variable in that some years they grow, and then they might not come back for several years. We had a visitor from England who said Bellefield had the feel of an Irish country garden, which is a nice way to describe it as an English country garden can, I suppose, be a little bit more rigid and controlled.”
The outcome of Jupe’s donation is that her legacy will continue and will be enhanced. “She left it to RHSI with the hope and wish that it would become their training garden, a place where students would be trained in the practical skills of horticulture. We have some outbuildings here and ultimately the plan would be to have some of those available for students to do their placement and stay on site, which would be an attractive option for them.”
The property is open to the public from 11am to 5pm from April to October. In addition to visiting the garden you can also stay in the house and enjoy all it has to offer – it is available to holiday let on rental platform Airbnb.
As head gardener, Smyth is aware that Jupe’s bequest was out of the ordinary. People have gifted property to the Office of Public Works, he says, “but there aren’t many other places like Bellefield that have been donated to RHSI. Angela left fairly clear instructions in her will as to what she wanted it to become. We’re using those instructions as our ethos, but we have to make it work financially as well as everything else. One of the things we’re doing on a regular basis is to have volunteers here, not just to work but also to be taught.”
RHSI Bellefield House and Gardens will be open to the public for Heritage Week for tours of the house and gardens and tea/coffee after. Admission is €15. For further details, visit www.rhsi.ie