This article is from page 23 of the 2011-06-07 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 23 JPG
A NORTH Clare garden, which boasts Ireland’s largest collection of snowdrops, has been recognised as one of the country’s top 100 gardens.
The Caher Bridge Garden in Fanore, which was founded less than a decade ago, has been chosen alongside more established Clare gardens such as the Vandeleur Walled Garden in Kilrush and the Bunratty Castle and Folk Park as one of Ireland’s top gardens.
That is according to a new book by Shirley Lanigan, which is due for release later this week.
The garden, which is started in the Caher Valley in Fanore just 11 years ago, is one of the newest gardens in the top 100.
“This all started as a private garden, and I really had no intention of opening it to the public, but somehow it has become very well known. This is not really a tourist attraction. It is a private collector’s garden, but people do seem to want to come and see it anyway,” said garden owner Carl Wright. “I have a lot of collections of plants. One of my real passions is snowdrops and I actually have one of the largest collections of snowdrops in Ireland here with more than 200 different types.”
The garden was built from scratch in one of the harshest landscapes in Clare to grow plants and flowers.
“One of the problems with creating a garden here has been the conditions. It is a totally unsuitable location to produce a garden in, so I had to work very hard to get this off the ground. There is very little soil here and the conditions are very difficult they are as difficult as you could possibly get. The only thing that I have on my side is great shelter but it has been a real challenge to get it off the ground.”
The Caher Bridge Garden is open to visitors year-round by appointment only. Telephone 065 7076225 for details.