Lesley Fennell, below, doesn’t want the garden and parkland around Burtown House to be too neat and tidy. “I like it being a garden where everybody can run their fingers through the long grass, and that children can enjoy,” she says about her family home, which is about 8km east of Athy, in Co Kildare.
There is long grass in plenty here — acres and acres, with neatly mown paths coursing through it. And on the day that I visit, there are small bands of children having a whale of a time.
The swathes of meadowy grass are especially effective as you come up the long drive, with its venerable beech and chestnut trees. Monumental stone sculptures by Eileen MacDonagh, the Sligo-born artist, are just