The glories of Glenarm

The gardens at Glenarm Castle, Co Antrim, Northern Ireland The home of Randal and Aurora McDonnell

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It is hard to credit that nearly all of the present garden was made this century, marvels Kathryn Bradley-Hole

GLENARM CASTLE sits in an enviable location at the western end of its attractive village, surrounded by an elegant park. The salmon-and trout-rich Glenarm River and adjacent forest margin the park to the south, but a very short walk northwards from the castle brings you to a crescent bay and the rugged Antrim seashore. From here, you can see Scotland on a clear day, notably the Mull of Kintyre, not far away.

A big draw at Glenarm, especially in summer, is its four-acre, trapezoid walled garden, built in the 1820s to shelter all the fruit and vegetable produce then required by the castle. Today, it is primarily ornamental, but productivity has been reinstated, via a small and very charming potager just over the wall, beside the old gardeners' bothy and mushroom house.

Within the walled garden, you cannot help admiring the magnificent trees that surround it (including fine conifers, sycamores and oaks). When the sun drops lower, you can particularly appreciate the garden's strong bones, the contrasting textures and colours of its yew and beech hedging and the intriguing effects of golden light and green shadow. In this ancient place, it might come as a surprise to discover that nearly all of the present garden was made in the 21st century.

Randal McDonnell, the present (15th) Earl of Antrim, took over the Glenarm estate from his father in 1992, when he was only 25 years old. He recalls taking on somewhere that would need a lot of time, work and investment to turn it around and earn its keep.