In Ireland, Kylemore Abbey and its people

Towers, steeples, angels and gardens. They are the first four words that come to mind to describe the star of a memorable story in the heart of Ireland. It is Kylemore Abbey, Connemara in the wild. Perched on a pond and surrounded by dense vegetation appears as if by magic, like something out of a storybook.

And certainly a story to this story residence was the scene for several years. In mid 1800, in fact, Mitchell Henry and his wife Margaret during their honeymoon visited what was then only a hunting lodge surrounded by forest and falls in love at first sight. It was the beginning of a great love story that saw the rise of the current castle as a pledge of devotion to Margaret and the largest Victorian walled garden of Ireland, gave birth to their nine children and revive a depressed area of poverty and famine , giving a job and a future for many families of laborers of the place that saw Kylemore paradise.

Henry Mitchell's insight went beyond the realization of a dream for his wife, coming from nowhere to create 15 thousand acres to his estate in the first model farm in the West. Using hydropower from Lake Touther, Kylemore top of the mountain, all the property around the castle, where they lived the same farmers, became the symbol of modern agricultural enterprise with fewer than 21 heated greenhouses, orchards, gardens and even exotic plants. The feminine touch, however, dominated the church style 'gothic-romantic', adorned with angels and stained glass, a sort of cathedral in miniature. From unkempt bush as a place of great beauty, this property changed face premature death of Margaret following several owners until it became a Benedictine monastery run by a group of sisters survived the Great War and a school for noble girls, famous throughout Europe.

There are many stories handed down from generation to generation on the amazing feat of Mitchell Henry, stories of change and happiness that still echoes among the more than 300 thousand trees planted by him, in sober but elegant rooms of his castle, among the trees of his infusions Victorian garden and the mausoleum overlooking the lake, nestled in the green, where remains are kept him and his great love.

The Editor