Art of protecting our built and natural heritage

THE newly-gilded alcoves of the dining room at Cork’s Fota House suggest only calm and elegance.

Exquisite paintings glow from walls in the salon and library.

From the pillared hall there are glimpses of the terraced lawns, the orangerie, the walled gardens and the famous arboretum. Beyond these lies the frame yard, typical of the 19th century combination of technology and science with knowledge of aspect, shelter, light, climate and horticulture, and the recent subject of the largest glass-house restoration project in Ireland.