UnspecifiedCredit: Christina Pfeiffer
Serenity reigns in the grand gardens of a historic house, writes Christina Pfeiffer.
I'm strolling along a path by a tranquil lake, enjoying the solitude in the gardens of Mount Stewart House. The view by the lake is out of a picture book. Swans glide by, gently rippling the reflections of the maple trees in the water. The water lilies are a bed of green and pink.
As I turn a bend, I bump into a woman and five beautifully groomed Shetland collies walking along the path. Being a dog lover, I'm soon down on my knees patting the collies and exchanging dog stories.
"You must be from Australia then?" says the woman with a musical lilt. "My cousin Michael O'Donald migrated to Perth last year. Tall fellow with red hair like mine. You don't happen to know him do you?"
I explain that Australia is a large country and the likelihood of her just bumping into an Australian traveller who might know her cousin is unlikely. "Well, you just never know," she says undeterred. "We have the luck of the Irish and strange things do happen here."
It's this Irish joie de vivre that makes travelling through Northern Ireland such an uplifting experience. You see it in the people you meet and the places you visit.
It's this Irish joie de vivre that makes travelling through Northern Ireland such an uplifting experience.
Take Mount Stewart House. When Edith, wife of the Seventh Marquess of Londonderry arrived here in 1921, her first words were "I thought the house and its surroundings were the dampest, darkest and saddest place I had ever stayed in during the winter."
It was an inauspicious beginning for a property that would one day be one of Northern Ireland's grandest public gardens.
She set to work transforming the cold, dark house into a home with modern conveniences, such as electric lights and central heating. Luxuries such as painted wallpaper were imported from China and bathrooms were added.
Bedrooms were redesigned with a touch of glitz and named after great European cities. And by the 1930s, a who's who of high society were flocking to Lady Londonderry's parties.
Guests came to ride, swim, and play tennis and golf. Society ladies came to tea in the drawing room. Bridge games and amateur stage shows were a regular event.
Like the house's renovations, the gardens were remodelled on a grand scale that was radical for the times.
Most Irish gardens of that period had open landscapes with gardens away from the property but Mount Stewart's gardens were based on themes and built close to the house.
Later, I find myself in the Mairi Garden where a fountain with a statue of Mairi, Lady Londonderry's youngest daughter, is surrounded by bells and cockle shells. As a baby, Mairi was often left to sleep in her pram in this garden, which is designed after the nursery rhyme Mary, Mary, Quite Contrary and planted with pretty blue-and-white flowers.
Next to the garden is the Dodo Terrace which has four large statues of the extinct birds on pillars and a huge eucalyptus tree. Dodos symbolise the distinguished political figures that belonged to Lady Londonderry's Ark Club during World War I.
There's also the Italian Garden, with summer colours ranging from ruby reds, pinks and mauves to yellows, oranges and blues, the formal Spanish Garden designed around a pond, and the Peace Garden which features a rare New Zealand tree, Phyllocladus glaucus, that has confounded experts by thriving in Northern Ireland's cold weather.
I follow a path above the lake to a private family burial ground behind locked iron gates. This is Tir Nan Og, a play on words of the mythical Irish spirit world T{aac}r na nO{aac}g, or the "land of the ever young."
Although the locals like to wander informally through the gardens, specialised garden walks and guided tours of the house are available. Throughout the year, there are also drama, music and craft events. The Grand Garden and Craft Fair is held each May with a host of events and activities, including show gardens, plant pavilions, gardening talks and floral stalls.
A short distance from the house is the Temple of the Winds, an 18th-century banqueting hall with views over Strangford Lough. Once used by the family as an informal retreat from the main house, it's a beautiful venue for weddings.
In 1955 Lady Londonderry donated Mount Stewart House to Britain's National Trust. "Gardens are meant to be lived in and enjoyed and I hope they may long continue to be a source of pleasure to those who visit them," she said.
Many years later, it's evident the gardens of Mount Stewart House are well and truly enjoyed by people from around the world.
The writer was a guest of Tourism Ireland and Emirates Airline.
TRIP NOTES
Mount Stewart House, Garden And Temple Of The Winds is on Portaferry Road, Newtownards, Co. Down, Northern Ireland. Phone + 44 28 4278 8387, see http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk. Entry: Adult £7 ($15), child £3.50, family £17.50.
Getting there: Emirates Airline flies to Dubai with a direct connection between Dubai and Dublin on Aer Lingus. For further information call 1300 303 777 or visit Emirates online at http://www.emirates.com/au.
Further information: See http://www.discoverireland.com.au or phone Tourism Ireland on (02) 9299 6177.
Sign up for the Traveller Deals newsletter
Get exclusive travel deals delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up now.