Parents for the Planet: Green family has greener outlook at country house

HUSBAND and wife Justin and Jenny Green run Ballyvolane House, in Castlelyons, Co Cork. The mansion and former dairy farm, which was built in 1728, is where Justin grew up. Raised to Scottish parents in Hong Kong, Jenny met fellow hotelier Justin while working in the Mandarin Oriental Hotel. Having worked in the UK and Bali, they returned to manage Ballyvolane House, as an Irish country house, in 2004.

Named Georgina Campbell’s Country House of the Year 2020, Ballyvolane House serves food from its own vegetable garden, has free range hens, a herd of rare pigs, and utilises foraged and locally sourced ingredients. Justin also runs Bertha’s Revenge gin distillery, which makes small batches of whey alcohol gin, with milk from local farms and locally picked sloes and herbs. Justin and Jenny are parents to Toby, 18, Jamie, 15, and Fleur, 12.