Ballymore School House (Day 3)

Open Garden in Aid of the Hope Cancer Support Centre

Open: Saturday 25th – Sunday 26th May and

Saturday 1^st ,  Sunday 2^nd and Monday 3^rd June 2023,

12pm-5pm (last entry)

Ballymore Schoolhouse gardens open to the public in support of Hope Cancer Support Services. The award winning Japanese inspired gardens are set on the foothills of Carrig Rua, Camolin, Co Wexford. Visitors are invited over 2 weekends to enjoy this quiet, tranquil space, featuring a laburnum tunnel, a moongate, an authentic Japanese teahouse, meandering streams, intimate walkways and a spectacular view of north county Wexford.

Mary Webb and Michael Mosman’s 2 acre garden wraps Ballymore Schoolhouse which dates from 1839 and has been extensively renovated in recent years.

Mary explains “We really wanted to support Hope Cancer Support Services in some way for the amazing work they do in the community. The garden is very zen, you feel very relaxed from the moment that you enter so it seemed like the ideal place to host a charity event to benefit Hope”

“Maintaining the tranquillity of the garden along with the bio-diversity is really important to us. We see all manner of wildlife and insects – dragon flies, frogs, newts, water beetles in the refurbished ponds. Thrushs, robins, wrens, tits, swallows and bumblebees provide constant birdsong and activity! Nothing goes to waste here – all garden prunings, cuttings are composted or shredded and re-used as mulch. We’ve added to the already extensive collection of plants and trees and added a rose garden in 2021. Maintaining the garden for the future is also a top priority, a big effort went into repairing or in some cases replacing many of the older timber structures, such as the arch supporting the laburnum tunnel, the red bridge and many of the steps and pathways throughout the garden’

The gardens were developed by John and Sylvia Mulcahy over a 30 year period. With the help of local Clologue men; the late Paddy Ronan and Michael Leacy, who is still in charge today,  they transformed the overgrown and wild site, constructing paths, stone work and ponds. A trip to Japan inspired an Asian theme in the garden that’s evident in the stone ‘moongate’, the carved ‘generals’ guarding the entry to the roofed Asian double doors leading to a pathway of acer and bamboo and the Japanese teahouse with ponds, gravel beds and pathways.

The 30m laburnum tunnel with yellow cascading flowers in May and early June was modelled after the laburnum in Bodnant Garden, a national trust property in North Wales.

The gardens are full of the essential elements used to create a Japanese garden; stone, which form the structure of the landscape; water, representing life-giving force; and plants, which provide the colour which  changes throughout the seasons.

The gardens are open:
Saturday 25^th and Sunday 26^th May, 2024

Saturday 1^st, Sunday 2^nd and Monday 3^rd June, 2024

12pm – 5pm (last entry)

Donations for Hope Cancer Support Services on the gate or online here: https://www.idonate.ie/fundraiser/ballymoreschoolhouse24

100% of donations go to Hope.

Tea, coffee and treats are provided by the local Holy Trinity Church Ballymore with all donations going to Church.

Unfortunately the gardens are not wheelchair or buggie accessible due to steps and sloping site. Small children need to be supervised.

Ballymore Schoolhouse and Gardens

Ballymore

Camolin, Enniscorthy

Co Wexford

Y21 K8X7