Legacy of outstanding gardener will live on in Shinrone

THE distinguished legacy of the outstanding gardener, the late Angela Jupe, will live on in Shinrone for years to come thanks to the good work of the Royal Horticultural Society of Ireland.

During Heritage Week in August the RHSI opened Bellefield House and its two acre garden to the general public and unveiled their plans for the site in the coming months and years. It was all good news and was warmly welcomed by many members of the local community.

Philip Hollwey, Chairperson of the RHSI, told the Midland Tribune that the RHSI will use Bellefield as its HQ. “Our plan is to hold open days for the public to visit and to hold training courses for gardeners. We hope to start the open days in 2023. They could coincide with special times in the garden, such as when the snowdrops are in their full glory, and might take place on Sundays.”

A former student of Angela's, Paul Smyth, will be playing an important role in Bellefield's future, by maintaining the garden at its current very high standard and overseeing training courses. “We will hold the open days,” he said, “when there are plants of interest flowering and we feel the garden has something special to show. We will advertise those days.”

Philip said the RHSI envisage that Bellefield won't be an exclusive endeavour but will be connected to the community. “We want to involve the people of Shinrone and south Offaly in our endeavour as much as we possibly can. That's very important. We don't want to be seen as exclusive or cut off.”

He spoke about his long-held love for the art of gardening. “Gardening entails considerable skill and we want to teach those skills here in Bellefield. Gardening can also be an art-form and we want to teach that as well.” He said that if you enjoy meeting people and want to learn some gardening skills then you can get involved in volunteering with the RHSI. If you are interested in volunteering you can email them at info@RHSI.ie

Bellefield is located just outside Shinrone. The 18th Century farmhouse and a variety of outbuildings were restored by its former owner Angela Jupe. Angela transformed the derelict two acre walled garden into a beautiful ornamental garden, packed with plants and items she collected throughout her life.

Paul said he learned a lot when he was a student of Angela's. He did a work placement at Bellefield and went on to work alongside Angela for ten years. He said Angela was a visionary thinker who encouraged others to take risks and imagine the impossible. She was passionate about Irish gardens and gardening skills. She wanted to see Irish gardens marketed as an independent tourist attraction outside of the Irish Country Houses, Castles and Gardens branding. Paul pointed out that Bellefield needed an awful lot of work when Angela purchased it in 2004, but through much hard work and great skill she transformed it.

Angela had previously restored Fancroft Millhouse near Roscrea. Fancroft was empty for twelve years before Angela purchased it in 1997, when she first moved out of Dublin in the late 1990s. She also developed the outbuildings at Fancroft and Bellefield as holiday accommodation for visitors.

Angela spent a lot of time seeking out plant specimens and she travelled across France, the UK and Ireland to do this.

She loved snowdrops and accrued in Bellefield one of the largest collections of snowdrops in Ireland. She also developed fine collections of old French Roses, Nerines, Irises and Peonies. Tulips, hydrangeas, crocuses, dahlias, hollyhocks, lilies and daffodils are also well represented at Bellefield. When she opened Fancroft to the public she started holding plant fairs, which attracted huge numbers of visitors.

Angela died in May 2021 at the age of 77. In her will she bequeathed Bellefield to the RHSI. She was a long-standing member of the board of the RHSI and a founding member and first chairman of the Garden and Landscape Designers Association (GLDA). The RHSI are opening Bellefield in due course, in accordance with Angela's wish that the public enjoy the garden and students learn the art and craft of gardening there.

As well as holding open days centred around certain flowers, the RHSI plans to eventually open the garden to the public a few days a week. The entrance fee will be reasonable. If you are an RHSI member (membership is €60 a year) then entrance will be free.

I visited Bellefield just before closing time during its Heritage Week Open Day. The crowds had gone and I had the place to myself. I was happy to see that it's being well cared for. The place is a delight to walk around and it's obvious that an incredible amount of love and work has gone into the garden. It's pleasant and peaceful to sit in the small building which Angela called her “fantastical folly”. The folly is an amalgam of different design styles, including a Far East theme.

After my stroll around the garden, Philip Hollwey was giving an introductory talk to thirty locals about the place. He told them that until now the RHSI has never had a proper base for its activities. “Bellefield will from now on be our HQ,” he said. “We want to make Bellefield into quite a special place, a place which is welcoming, which is for everybody. We are looking forward to a very positive future at Bellefield.”

He pointed out that the Liffey family and the Wallace family lived in Bellefield before Angela. “Angela had a theory,” he remarked, “that the house was built for the Duke of Rochfort as a hunting lodge. From the outside it looks like a simple building of a certain size but in fact it goes back further than you might think.” He talked about where the name Bellefield might have come from. “There's speculation that Oliver Cromwell's soldiers burned a church on the site and the church bell was buried in a field, hence the name.”