We really had to prioritise and focus on keeping the place suitable to be open and safe for people to visit.
Julie Shelswell-White lives at Bantry House and just before the pandemic she took over the running of the stately house, along with her brother.
Bantry House has been in their family for more than two centuries. Over the years, land and furniture has been sold to maintain the house.
There are hundreds of privately owned estates like it throughout Ireland, many of which have been closed because of public health restrictions.
Without tourists, weddings, and visitors to their gardens, paying for the upkeep has become a worry.
Bloom time If you dream of filling your home with your own cut flowers, gifting website and flower farm Bell Meadow has introduced a flower seed collection that will help you realise that ambition. It contains 11 seed packets (each with detailed growing instructions on a card to keep for reference) including sweet peas, cornflowers and marigolds. These are all suitable for beginner growers and will attract pollinators to your garden. Bell Meadow’s Maria Ryan suggests starting the sweet peas now indoors if you want earlier blooms; the others can be started in early spring inside, or planted directly into the garden or a raised bed later in spring, once the danger of frost has passed.
January is normally the month when we dream of escaping the dark skies and chill of winter and plan that sun-soaked holiday, city break or long-haul adventure.