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  • The Oldie

    A castle fit for a pig

    Jun 29, 2022 4 minutes

    Larchill in County Kildare is thought to be the last surviving 18th-century ornamental farm – or ferme ornée.

    The ferme ornée was first written of by Stephen Switzer in The Nobleman, Gentleman and Gardener’s Recreation (1715). He pioneered the charms of ‘mixing the useful and profitable Parts of Gardening with the pleasurable’. Agricultural estates in particular could and should be aesthetically pleasing.

    Here in Ireland, the Prentice family, Quaker farmers from the north, made a fortune out of their flax pit and mill – and created the pastoral paradise of Larchill. It was then the dawn of the Age of Improvement, when enthusiasm

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