€4m plea for gardens at stately home

A development group is hoping to get €4m funding to do up three unique gardens at a stately home in North Cork.

It is believed that Doneraile Court, once home of the St Leger family, is the only stately home in Britain and Ireland which has three distinct gardens developed in the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries.

The gardens are retained behind high walls up to 5m high, north and south of the river, which runs through the house’s adjoining parkland.