Arthur Shackleton, renowned garden designer shares his background in garden consultancy showing examples of his design approach to gardens he has worked on in the past and continues to work on today including Ashford, Dromoland and Glin Castles, Lyons Demesne, Coolmore Stud and Airfield House in Dundrum and Butler House in Kilkenny.
The creation of Arthur’s garden – Fruit Lawn – in Abbeyleix, Co. Laois over the past 20 years will be discussed in detail and his choice of plants talked about. Arthur will show some of his favourite plants and explain how he uses them in his gardens. Coming from a plantsman background, – his father, David, was one of Ireland’s leading plantsmen/gardeners, – Arthur has from an early age been a passionate lover of plants.
Venue: Burtown House and Gardens, Athy, Co. Kildare R14 KF63
Time: 3 p.m.
Admission: adults €10
The Green Barn is open for tea, coffee, cakes and lunches (outdoors and indoors). Pre-booking recommended.
Contact: 059-8623865
W: www.burtownhouse.ie
In a career spanning more than 40 years, designer Arthur Shackleton has nurtured many of the Emerald Isle’s botanical gems
Arthur has contributed to the design and maintenance of a wide variety of Irish gardens, large and small, including Ashford, Dromoland and Glin Castles, Lyons Demesne, Coolmore Stud and all of Sheik Mahomed’s Irish studfarms, Airfield House in Dundrum and Butler House in Kilkenny.
In 1999, Arthur transformed two derelict farm buildings and their accompanying land outside Abbeyleix, Co. Laois, into his own garden. Arthur shares Fruitlawn with artist Carol Booth and grows in the garden a wide selection of plants originally from his father, David Shackleton’s garden at Beech Park in Clonsilla. It has been called “enchanting” for its “billowing borders and quiet corners” by The Irish Garden Magazine, and has received visitors from around the world.