To reach Caher Bridge Garden, visitors must drive deep into the rural countryside of northwest Clare, through a landscape of powder-grey limestone hills criss-crossed by meandering drystone walls, and winding boreens fringed with hazel, willow and wild irises. Its owner, Carl Wright, first moved here from Devon almost 30 years ago, buying a semi-derelict old farmhouse that he proceeded to restore with the same exceptional combination of artistry and practicality that now defines its remarkable garden.
Over the course of those three decades, he has barrowed more than 1,500 tonnes of soil on to the site, every bucketload painstakingly sieved by hand; built roughly one mile of stone walls; and created five separate water features within its leafy boundaries.
Those numbers might suggest a garden where its maker’s firm hand is obvious for all to see, but one of the many wondrous things about Caher Bridge is its sense of having naturally emerged from the scrubby native woodland that once covered the site, as if the wild, damp, stony landscape of Co Clare somehow willed it into existence. I don’t think I’ve ever seen another garden – especially one as intensely gardened as this one – so completely at one and in tune with the wider, wilder world around it.
Part of the reason for this is Wright’s celebration of the natural elements that have shaped this deeply rural region of northwest Clare. Just yards from his home lies the river Caher, whose watery beauty he has elegantly accentuated with the construction of a “moon window” fashioned from flat slabs of local limestone. One of the garden’s best-known features, it frames a view of the steeply arching stone bridge that gives the garden its name.
Stone and water have also been artfully and sensitively used in the rear garden, which slopes steeply upwards and away from the farmhouse. Here the contours of the site are defined by the limestone karst that lies just inches below the surface, as well as the knee-high drystone walls that loop gently back and forth across the ground. Not only do the latter act as retaining walls for the top soil imported by Wright to create opportunities for planting, but they also provide a charming bone structure for the half-concealed, trickling streams and tiny pools that so beautifully punctuate the space.
As for the planting, it’s magical to the point of being profoundly moving. Somehow Wright has succeeded in pulling off that very rare thing, of being a plant collector whose fascination with rarities hasn’t intruded upon his determination to be restrained in his use of plants.
“One of the most profound lessons I’ve learnt about making a garden is to treat the surrounding landscape, whatever that might be, as the all-important frame that defines what style of garden will be appropriate. What’s outside any garden will always be bigger than what’s inside it. So instead of starting by working from the inside out, which is a very common mistake, I’ve learnt that in fact you need to do the opposite.”
For that same reason, colour is used very carefully at Caher Bridge, with bright shades of yellow, orange and red – “nature’s warning colours” – generally off bounds. “I don’t understand the obsession with colour, especially very vivid colours, which you generally don’t see in the wild Irish landscape. It’s so easy to get it wrong and create something that’s restless and uneasy on the eye, when instead you can create an outstanding garden relying solely on green foliage plants.”
That same ultra-disciplined approach to the art of garden making means Wright uses very few summer bedding plants – “they generally don’t look right in this space” – while certain favourite genera of plants, including hydrangea and crataegus, are grouped together for visual simplicity. Other favourites, such as hardy perennial geraniums, astilbe, primula, filipendula, hemerocallis, rodgersia, iris, camassia and narcissus, have been chosen for their suitability for this damp, cool, generally shady garden’s growing conditions.
The same is true of the more than 200 different varieties of fern he has used to fringe the edges of the narrow curling pathways that weave their way back and forth through the garden, eventually leading visitors upwards into the wildflower meadows and newly constructed stone tower or “folly” overlooking the surrounding Burren landscape. A recent addition, its curving walls are embellished with faithfully reproduced copies of ancient stone heads carvings painstakingly hand-made by Wright (the originals can be found in historic sites around the country), while he similarly fashioned its graceful “stone” architraves out of cast concrete.
Wright, a keen caver and potholer as well as a professional ecologist, first came to this corner of Co Clare to work as a tour guide in the nearby Aillwee caves. But gardening, he says with joy and wonder, has become an enduring obsession, one that compels him to spend every available moment extending, refining and embellishing Caher Bridge, forever adding to its beauty.
“It started out of necessity, by clearing away decades of overgrowth from around the house so that I could get to work on rebuilding it,” he says. “Then I realised the hazel woodland around it needed editing to allow more sunlight to filter through the windows. Now it’s all I want to do, seven days a week.”
His training in ecology has also given him precious insights into creating a nature-friendly garden rich in a diversity of wildlife-friendly habitats, where lizards, bats, frogs, dragonflies, cuckoos, chiffchaffs and field voles are common visitors. “The stone walls, stream and pools also act as nature corridors, safe routes by which wildlife can move throughout the garden.”
Is there anything he might do differently if he was starting out again? “My only regret, a big one, is not designing the paths to be wide enough to allow easy access by machinery. The result is that every crumb of top soil, every stone, has had to be barrowed in by hand. I think,” he adds with a bitter-sweet laugh, “I was just far too engrossed in what I was doing.”
Caher Bidge garden is open to the public by prior arrangement – email caherbridgegarden@gmail.com or phone 065-7076225.
This week in the garden
Finish planting any remaining short-lived annuals or bedding plants outdoors in the garden or into pots, making sure to give them the best head-start in the shape of fertile, damp but well-drained soil. Presoaking their root-balls just before planting is also a good idea.
Start side-shooting indeterminate/cordon varieties of tomato plants to prevent them from sprawling as well as to encourage production of their delicious fruits. Sideshoots are typically produced in the joint between the leaves and the main stem. Left unpruned, they will divert energy away from the important processes of fruit production and fruit ripening, as well as resulting in too much untidy growth.
Dates for your diary
- Garden Show Ireland, Antrim Castle, continuing until Sunday, June 15th. Expert talks, displays, practical demonstrations, and plant sales. gardenshowireland.com
- Limerick Garden Festival Limerick Milk Market, Sunday, June 15th. Guest speakers, practical demonstrations and plant sales. limerickgardenfestival.com
