Guardian of a unique Kilkenny garden

Susan Mosse says it was an enormous white owl that caught her eye when she first visited the house that has been her home for nearly fifty years. That bird then drew her eyes up to the statuesque old trees at the front of the old estate agent's house and made her realise that she was in a very special place. The resident owl may have been an omen for Susan, as her life has been intertwined with Kilfane Glen and Waterfall since that day. She is the custodian of this unique place now just as the owl was in its own way, all those decades ago.

When Susana and Nicholas Mosse first bought the property they had no idea that there was a lost example of a romantic garden hidden in the dense overgrowth in the grounds. Susan explains: “We had no idea there were gardens here ... it was just the house in the middle of the woods” and that there was “no living memory locally of the garden” then. The garden that now sits beautifully restored today, was then utterly lost beneath rampant laurels and rhododendrons that had grown uncensored for decades, hiding the glen and waterfall that had been created by the Power family of Kilfane House back in the 1790s.

Romantic gardens that embodied a picturesque aesthetic were fashionable and popular across Europe in the late 18th century. Kilfane is a perfect example of this type of landscape which was artfully contrived but strove to appear natural. The garden's exact date and the identity of the designer are now lost. Then the aim was to engineer a landscape that would entertain and impress while also serving as a setting for al fresco picnics and recreational gatherings en plein air. Gardens for the landed gentry were a status symbol, horticultural display was a way of showing off while also boosting the value of a property. Susan explains that for the wealthy: “Gardens became a big status symbol and part of the whole experience of visiting each other would be to look at the gardens.”

Kilfane naturally had an area of woodland that gave away to a 30 feet high rock face so the Powers had a canal engineered to that area to create a man-made waterfall to tumble picturesquely into the vale below. The pool at the base evolves into a burbling steam that meanders under lush trees and is crossed by quaint stone bridges placed at intervals.

Situated amongst this bucolic backdrop in a rustic grotto is a cottage ornée. a dainty thatched jewel-box of a house that acts as a focus for the dramatic landscape and amplifies the scale of the cascading waterfall. So popular were these cottages, there is another of the “exact same design” in Woodstock but it is not available to the public.

Over the generations the Power family lost interest in tending to the site until it fell into decay and disappeared from sight. Yet, all the while it remained beneath the neglect of decades until the Mosses rediscovered it, dishevelled but still retaining the faded outline of its beauty. The woodlands were choked with laurel and rhododendrons, the canal and waterfall had long dried up and the cottage was derelict.

The first inkling the Mosses had of the lost garden were at a fundraiser in their home when someone asked the whereabouts of the cottage and waterfall. His curiosity awoken, Nicholas Mosse made a journey to the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland which had documents relating to the garden. Jim Reynolds one of Ireland's leading landscape designers told them a restoration was non-negotiable saying: “You must do this.”

And so a labour of love began. Vital to the restoration was a grant secured from the EU to restore old historical gardens. It was both a financial godsend and a boost to their ambitions. Gradually, via a process of “gardening by subtraction” the Mosses completely restored the garden back to its former glory.

Susan recalls when after much intense labour she first saw the site cleared: “I remember standing up at the top of the hill, on the other side of the stream and Nick was down with a machete (he was clearing those 2 big trees) and all of a sudden I could see the stream where the house had been and I remember laughing and crying at the same time.”

Susan was meticulous in her approach researching and sourcing plants appropriate to the garden's era. She says that floral beds weren't a characteristic of the look, with planting that was more focused on trees and foliage to create a natural, dark and dramatic effect. She note that this year one of the 18th century roses she sourced back then “finally broke into beautiful flowers”.

The cottage originally built circa 1890 was restored in 1989 with the input of John Morley (who manged the restoration of the Brighton Pavilion) and David Sheehan who was recommended by Sybil Connolly. Today, the restored cottage is exquisite sitting like a fairytale, doll's house in its tranquil streamside setting.

Susan eventually hopes that one of her children may take on the stewardship of  the garden. For now, she continues in he role as the guardian of Kilfane Glen and Waterfall, a magic enclave that seems to exist in a parallel universe - one far away from the stresses and distractions of modern life.

She says: “I feel that I've devoted so much of my life to it and it's a gift back to Ireland too. It's probably the best example of a period romantic garden in the country.” Kilkenny is lucky to have both it and Susan.