In the picturesque village of Inistioge, Co Kilkenny, with its famous bridge that lies like a stone drawbridge across the river Nore, there is a pub with the somewhat unusual name of The Woodstock Arms.
Like so many other pubs in Ireland which appear to passers-by to have such random, puzzling names, The Woodstock Arms takes its name from a piece of local history - the nearby 18th century Woodstock House.
Less than a mile from Inistioge, at the top of the steep hill which overlooks the village, is the 1,500-acre Woodstock estate, last owned by the Tighe family. For almost 250 years, the estate has played an integral part in the social, economic, and historical life of all who live near it.
When the Big House was burned down in 1922 during the Civil War, the area's main source of employment vanished the moment the roof fell in. But, for decades since, people have been coming to wander in the estate's extraordinary gardens, which became wilder and more overgrown with every passing year.
Now, almost 80 years later, Woodstock is on the brink of providing employment to local people once more. Kilkenny County Council and the Great Gardens of Ireland have come together to fund the first phase of a three-phase restoration project.
"The first phase will focus on restoring 50 acres of the garden," explains Andy Cottrell, a local councillor who is a member of the steering committee. Kilkenny County Council has come up with £140,000, and the Great Gardens organisation has provided a hefty £417,000.
Since most of this sum was allocated from an EU fund, the money comes with the condition that it is spent and the project completed by the end of December 1999.
"We hope that this will do for Inistioge what the restoration of Kilkenny Castle did for Kilkenny," Cottrell says. "Woodstock was the main source of employment here for centuries. We hope that it will again give work to local people through the results of this project."
Even after 80 years of abandonment, the Woodstock estate is still an exceptionally beautiful place, full of character. Although now a stout shell, the large 1740 house itself is still clearly recognisable from photographs in the Lawrence collection. The structure will be made safe as part of the project.
But the real essence of the estate now is located in its extensive gardens, which are in the care of Coillte. Lady Louisa Tighe, who came to Woodstock when she married Colonel William Tighe in 1825, spent several decades of her long life designing the gardens. The Woodstock gardens were renowned throughout Europe in the Victorian era, attracting many foreign visitors. Eddie Cody's father was the last steward at Woodstock. Mr Cody remembers his father showing him all around the estate, and telling him stories of what it was like when he worked there. He points to the uneven field at the front of the house. "There was a croquet lawn there," he says. "That's one of the things that will be recreated."
On the night that Woodstock was burned, the family were in London, where they had removed much of the valuable contents of the house. But the library had not been moved. On the night of the fire, books were passed out the windows, where locals ferried them away by horse and cart. Decades later they are still turning up.
Eddie Cody found a box of books in a garage 25 years ago, all of them with the Tighe family inscriptions on the flyleaf. One of the books has a bullet hole through its spine. Cody also found Lady Louisa's account book, in which she had written records of payments to all the staff, as well as records of items bought for the running of the house: an invaluable social and historical document of the era. "There are plans to convert one of the potting sheds into a little interpretative centre," Cody says. "So I suppose the books will end up there."
At the side of the ruined house are four large sunken grassy areas. This was the Winter Garden. In 1860, Scotsman Charles MacDonald came to Woodstock as head gardener, and the creation of the Winter Garden was one of his big pieces of work. In each sunken panel, or parterre, he laid coloured gravel between miniature conifers.
The tiny conifers were laid out in patterns; two panels were of harps and spirals, and the others were St Andrew's crosses, in deference to MacDonald's Scottish roots.
These will also be recreated, with the invaluable help of the Lawrence collection of photographs. The sundial which stood in the middle of the Winter Garden, and which is now down in Inistioge, will be brought back. Some distance away from the house, connected by a secluded path, is a Victorian bath-house, which will be restored. The roof has long since fallen in, but the fireplace which heated the water is still there, as are some of the plain white-glazed tiles on the walls.
"When my father brought me in here there were still all the decorated tiles," Mr Cody recalls. "Japanese ladies in kimonos. It was fierce exotic to me."
Just off the bath-house is what's known as the "grotto". This is a most unusual place, all tumbling ferns and palms, encircled by tall walls made of huge lumps of striking white quartz. "The idea was that you could come out here after your bath and have this private place to relax in."
Many of the trees in Woodstock's arboretum are still standing, despite recent storms. Luke Cunningham, who has been working in the gardens on a FAS project for the last three years, thinks about 60 per cent of the original arboretum has survived.
He points out western red cedars, a Chilean lantern tree, and Wellingtonias. The monkey puzzle walk, on which 130 trees were planted, was the longest such avenue in Europe in its time. Today the trees are astonishingly tall, and create a mysterious, brooding atmosphere with their legions of knotted branches and gnarled trunks.
There is an extensive walled garden, which once was the kitchen garden for the house. Backing onto the other side of the kitchen garden are some of the estate's many glasshouses and potting sheds.
Michael Tennyson, an agricultural consultant and local historian, who is on the project's committee, points out the chimneys in the inner walls, which kept the glasshouses heated. "The first tomato my mother ever ate came from a Woodstock glasshouse," Mr Cody remembers.
The only building on the estate which has survived almost perfectly intact is a beautiful dovecote, with a corbelled stone roof to rival Newgrange. "All we need to do here is pull weeds," says Cunningham.
Woodstock is full of surprises and Victorian subtleties. Cunningham indicates one of the many stone gullies that run throughout the estate. "That's why the grounds have never flooded," he explains. "The water always runs off in the gullies."
In a secluded glade is an ornamental pond, overhung with rainforest palms, which could easily be located in Asia. The whole estate is like this: another rare tree or vista or distinctive building around the next corner.
The results of the sensitive restoration planned for next year will add enormously to what is already a unique example of one of Ireland's finest Victorian gardens.
