Part of the gardens at Kylemore Abbey, Galway, Ireland

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When we were in Ireland, we visited Kylemore Abbey in Co. Galway. I’ve written about Kylemore Castle which is the same place, built by Mitchell Henry and subsequently sold to the Duke and Duchess of Manchester. The duke squandered away his fortune and the next owners were a group of Benedictine nuns who turned the castle into an abbey. The nuns were from Belgium and fled Ypres during World War I. The nuns established a boarding and day school for girls and began the repair of the Victorian walled garden. Sister Benedict was instrumental in establishing beef, dairy cattle and poultry on the farm; the garden supplied fruit and vegetables so the little community was almost fully self-sufficient for many years. The school has now closed but Kylemore Abbey continues to be a self-sustaining working monastery. The photo gives some views of the garden. The formal garden, upper photos and part of the lower left, is a heritage area. There are no plants here that would not have been here prior to 1900.