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| The
tea house |
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A vital
element of any country estate was the inclusion of an area to sit
and take tea. At the south end of the western canal, a gothic styled
garden folly known as the teahouse has been reconstructed. This garden
folly also played an important role during the famine, where food
was distributed to locals. Tall, majestic lime trees surround it and
today it still remains a place of contemplation.
The
estate would have been a productive one. The walled garden, no longer
part of Knockabbey Castle, was used to grow fruit and vegetables
for the family and staff. The walled garden was so productive that,
at one stage, it was able to provide fruit and vegetables to the
Dublin market.
Outside
of the walled garden, in the castle grounds, a lean-to, Victorian-style
glasshouse has been reconstructed. This stands on the site of an
earlier glasshouse. Originally, glasshouses like this one would
have grown a variety of tender plants which required heating in
winter. It would not have been unusual to find fruits like grapes,
peaches or nectarines growing within.
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| The
reconstructed glasshouse in the Victorian Flower Garden |
This
Victorian style greenhouse is now the main focal point of the flower
garden. This area is enclosed on one side by a high stone wall and
on the other by a yew hedge. Within, a wide range of flowering plants
and shrubs, including colourful annuals, were grown for pleasure
and is also a source of cut flowers for the castle.
The
use of bedding plants was very labour intensive, requiring individual
plants to be raised from seed or cuttings, often needing special
growing conditions. After the First World War this style of planting
fell into decline because of rising labour costs and many large
gardens were forced to reduce the scale of their bedding displays.
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