Ballyvolane House hosts Robert O’Byrne aka The Irish Aesthete for an Irish Country House Gardens talk and dinner

press release 

Ballyvolane House hosts Robert O’Byrne, aka The Irish Aesthete, for an Irish Country House Gardens talk and dinner.

On Friday 30th June, beautiful Ballyvolane House hosts Robert O’Byrne, aka The Irish Aesthete, for what promises to be a fascinating, fun and memorable evening. Robert will talk about the history of Irish country house gardens in this gorgeous setting, with a three-course dinner to follow in the dining room at Ballyvolane. 

Writer, TV presenter and lecturer specialising in the fine and decorative arts, Robert is author of more than a dozen books, including Luggala Days: The Story of a Guinness House and The Last Knight: A Tribute to Desmond FitzGerald, 29th Knight of Glin. Robert also wrote and presented Ireland’s Historic Gardens, a two-part TV documentary examining the history of Ireland’s country house gardens over the last 400 years.

A lovely family-run country house, Ballyvolane House is set in the rolling North Cork countryside, surrounded by 80 acres of its own lush gardens and farmland dotted with cows and rare-breed pigs. Justin and Jenny Green are the third generation of family to run the property with the help of their three children, and Justin’s dad Jer Green has been restoring, developing and maintaining the gardens at Ballyvolane House for over 60 years, with extraordinary results.

At Ballyvolane everyone benefits from the planting carried out by gardeners of the distant and more recent past, as there’s an impressive array of colours and scents all throughout the year, from snowdrop drifts just after Christmas, followed by groves of daffodils, magnolias and rhododendrons in full bloom, then more rhododendrons and azaleas and glorious bluebells, wisteria and the laburnum arch, flowering in all its glory throughout June.

This magical destination is home to delicious home-grown produce from their own three-acre walled garden too, freshly gathered every day and used for the well-provided table as well as in drinks using Ballyvolane’s own award-winning small batch Irish milk gin, Bertha’s Revenge. 

Beginning at 7pm on Friday June 30th, tickets are €25 for a Bertha’s Revenge rhubarb martini and the garden talk by Robert O’Byrne, with cocktail, talk and three-course dinner (excluding wines) for €75, hosted by Robert, Justin and Jenny. Get to know Ballyvolane further and explore the picturesque and inviting gardens with an overnight stay after the event from €300, including breakfast the following morning. The gardens at Ballyvolane House will be stunning in late June so guests are welcome to come early and have a stroll around them beforehand. There are also several wonderful country house gardens in the locality such as Anne’s Grove, Lismore Castle, Tourin, Cappoquin House, Dromana and Mount Congreve, all worth exploring during a stay at Ballyvolane.

To book tickets, phone 025 36349 or email info@ballyvolanehouse.ie

Please visit www.ballyvolanehouse.ie to see all available offers.