Coolaught Garden and Garden Center
I have visited Coolaught Garden on several occasions at different times of the year. My first reaction is always “so peaceful”. You are drawn into this garden of lush foliage and well positioned flowering plants, a garden adventure, strolling along manicured grass pathways that meander, almost aimlessly but with purpose through this 2.5 acre garden experience.
Coolaught Gardens & Garden Center, Clonroche, Enniscorthy, County Wexford, Ireland.
Around every corner a surprise awaits you. At ground level lush foliage of colours and textures perfectly intermingled to emphasis and express colour whilst the upper horizon line is broken by woodland and exotic trees, the fluttering of birds zooming and the melodic chorus of the honey bees add gentle, soothing sounds to the abstract separation between your mind and this inspired world around you.
Caroline and Harry Deacon are third generation of the Deacons to cultivate the original garden over the past 110 years. In spring, the front lawn becomes a crocus carpet, originally planted over 80 years ago and thriving today, a visual statement that spring has arrived.
The entrance to the garden is beside Caroline and Harry’s home, a country farmhouse dating back to the 1700’s, although the original house was built around the mid 1600 and some of the stone and straw mortar is still in place. The main entrance to the original orchard and garden is through an arbor, about 40feet in length and covered in a yellow laburnum with roses and clematis intermingled, a spectacle in itself in the spring. This brings you into the old orchard, a small green house and a pond. There are a couple of benches set in recesses among the foliage where you can retreat and sit a while into your “very own space”.
As you enter the “new” garden, which was opened in 2009, you are confronted with a hedge and you have to decide which way you will go, left or right. Lovely idea I thought as this garden was designed to be natural, cleverly designed not to be formal and I always felt this aspect was such an attraction for me.
Coolaught Gardens & Garden Center, Clonroche, Enniscorthy, County Wexford, Ireland.
As I am not a horticulturist, I am not going to even attempting to highlight plant species. That is not my intention. I would rather relay to you my feelings and as a photographer let visuals express the atmosphere of this amazing garden and to encourage you to have the same experiences as I’ve had.
The Garden Center is well laid out and stocked with everything from indoor plants to trees. Caroline is always there to help you in your choices and advice for developing your own garden at home. In the shop, you can buy “free range” eggs (chickens open grazed on grass on the farm) as well a fresh honey, also produced on the farm.
This year, 2017, Caroline and Harry were asked by members of the Co Wexford Garden and Flower Club to design a Post Card Garden for inclusion in the prestigious national horticulture show, “Bloom” and in conjunction with some of the club members, the garden was constructed. It was awarded a “Distinction of Merit” (Gold award) in the “Post Card Garden” section plus “Best in Show” award for the section. A fantastic achievement. This nationally recognized success is a reflection of this couples contagious enthusiasm and commitment to and their passion, gardening.
Contact:
Caroline and Harry Deacon
Coolaght, Clonroche, Enniscorthy, County Wexford, Ireland
Tel: 053 9244137
Mob: 087 6446882
Email: cooloughtgardens@eircom.net
Open to the Public Mid May to Mid September.
Other times by appointment and you will be most welcomed.
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