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Enniscoe House
Castlehill
Ballina
Co. Mayo
Ireland
T: +353 96 31112
F: +353 96 31773

     
Hidden Ireland

  
Ireland's Blue Book

NEWS, EVENTS & COURSES

ENNISCOE HOUSE

Enniscoe House will open again for the season on 1st April 2007, and will remain open until 31st October 2007. We are also open over New Year and into early January 2008 for group bookings. The self catering apartments are open all year round.

This winter we have done a little more refurbishment in the main house (replaced carpets in two bedrooms and had some furniture in the drawing room restored) but the main activity has been outside and in the wing which got its new roof in spring 2006. We are just recovering from having the courtyard behind the house dug up and turning into a sea of mud while new connections and services were put into the wing. By the end of March we should have a new laundry room for the house and a separate laundry room for the self catering apartments, just five years later than we first planned it!

ENNISCOE GARDENS

The ornamental garden in its present layout dates back to the late 19th century. It has been restored with the support of FAS, Meitheal Mayo, and The Great Gardens of Ireland Restoration Programme. It was officially declared open by Dr James McDaid, T.D. then Minister for Tourism, Sport, and Recreation, in October 1999.

Joy Madden continues to look after the gardens. She was joined for the summer months by Aisling Kilcullen, a student from the National Botanical Gardens, and between them they kept the garden looking good through out the season and the new beds of dahlias flowering right in October. Sadly the Paeonia delavayi (the tree peony) one of the original garden plants, succumbed to a root fungus during the summer. However it had been propagated from seed and young plants are coming on in other parts of the garden. After the ground was cleaned we took the decision to build a new section of rockery in its place and this was Aisling’s project for late summer. Stones from the lake shore were hauled up and the result looks good. It is to be planted up this spring.

Work in the organic vegetable garden continues, and a new poly tunnel went up in the autumn. This tunnel is being set up as a teaching area with good access for wheelchair users as we plan to run more courses for disabled groups. And the supply of fruits and vegetables to the house kept going right to the end of our season.

Access to the gardens and pleasure grounds is available to Enniscoe guests at any time, without charge. There is a separate entrance for the public through the Heritage Centre.

ENNISCOE WOODLANDS and Lakeside Walks

Work on opening up more paths continues through the woodlands in the Native Woodland Programme. We have brought in a kiln and are now starting to make charcoal, a great way of clearing up timber and branches lying in the undergrowth. We hope to have Enniscoe charcoal for sale for those summer barbeques! It is now possible to walk a circuit of the estate from the Heritage Centre to the lake, through woodlands and old paths and back the Heritage Centre, a good stop for coffee on the garden terrace.

Cloonamoyne Fishery
After 15 years as fishery manager at Enniscoe Barry Segrave has decided to retire. He is not totally disappearing from the scene as he is continuing to live in his house in the courtyard and will be on hand to greet old friends. However he has handed on the lodge, harbour and boats to Gary Crossley who will be looking after all fishing arrangements for guests to Enniscoe House, and also for guests coming in by the day. Gary Crossley has been staying at Enniscoe and fishing on Lough Conn for many years and knows the area well. Barry rates his fishing skills and knowledge highly and is pleased to be leaving Cloonamoyne Fishery in good hands. You can contact Gary by email at gary@cloonamoynefishery.com or visit his web site at www.cloonamoynefishery.com

The Mayo North Heritage Centre
Mayo North Heritage Centre is situated in one of the old farm yards behind the main house and walled garden. The centre runs a small museum , tea room, and shop, and will be open from 1st April to 31st October. The family history unit is part of the national network of genealogy centres set up by the Irish Family History Foundation. This centre covers the northern half of county Mayo and is open all year round. To contact it directly see our links page. This year an exciting new project is starting as we have gone into partnership with Mayo County Library to get many of the records we hold onto a “pay per view” web site. The software is being tested now and should go live over the next few months.

Mayo North Old Engine and Tractor Club
The club held another successful Heritage day last July and are already planning for this year, 15th July 2007. This is now an annual event and takes place around the Heritage Centre yards, garden, and the fields around the house. There are standing engines and tractors of course, but also vintage cars, motor cycles, a stream engine and an old fashioned thrashing machine (thrashing oats specially grown here) craft demonstrations and much more. A big attraction last year was the cottage specially built (pre-fabricated in plywood!) to provide a roof to demonstrate thatching. This looked so well it was then furnished , and came complete with donkey and stack of turf outside. The cottage will definitely be on show again!
www.mayovintage.org

Blacksmithing and Gardening courses
There will be courses running from April onwards. For further information contact Carol Williams at the Heritage Centre. Telephone 00 353 96 31809 Email: normayo@iol.ie

We look forward to seeing some of you back at Enniscoe in 2007, and to welcoming new visitors.

Susan and DJ