Mayo's Enniscoe house continues tri-centennial tradition
Enniscoe House celebrated an outstanding milestone with its third tree-planting party that, in the process, has continued a legacy that spans three centuries.
The initiative was conceived in a conversation between Enniscoe's DJ Kellett and the Easy Treesie – Crann project founder, Orla Farrell, to coincide with National Tree Week.
Orla was organising additional planting in the county to support the children’s registered charity project reaching the milestone of planting 500,000 trees all over Ireland.
“After a memorable dinner featuring lots of their garden produce and entirely cooked by the doyenne of the house, Susan Kellett, I got chatting to fear-an-tí D J and of course my conversation turned pretty soon to trees on their magnificent grounds”, explained Orla. “I was fascinated to hear that the house had two previous initiatives planting beech on the estate; one in the 1820s and one in the 1920s.
Orla Farrell asked DJ what planting of beech has been done in the 2020s. Alas, none so far. Why? Well the 2020s of course got off to a slow start in terms of many people's plans. I asked if D J could enlist some local children to do a hat-trick, a third project in three centuries and he said indeed he absolutely could, his own child attended the local school! I pledged to do what we could and we secured the last 100 beech trees available to us in the country through the generosity of the Coillte nursery in Carlow!” explained Orla.
It is a hectic time at Enniscoe House said D J. "As you know the film “Prospect House” which is set in the house and local area, had its premiere in Ballina recently. Then on to staking out the location for the trees, planning their layout and digging the holes. Following that we had a gathering on Sunday to do the planting. It was a fantastic day here with a large turnout from the north-west branch of the Mayo Autism Club and some local kids as well” reports D J Kellett.
A number of the trees were planted to replace ones from the 1820’s that were lost in the January storms. “The families of the Mayo Autism Club absolutely loved the tree planting and marked out the trees that they planted so they can visit them as they grow. We left a space in the centre of the planting so that we can place a bench there to enjoy the new woodland as the trees grow” added D J. In the coming days all 100 trees will also be fitted with guards to protect against damage by the local hare population.
Orla of Easy Treesie commented that “the new woodland will be a testament to the enduring commitment of the Kellett family to environmental stewardship, community engagement and our North Mayo Heritage and builds on their collaboration with the National Parks and Wildlife Service.”
Dr. Rory Harrington, Ecology Advisor to the Easy Treesie project praised this beech tree planting initiative as being "In keeping with the land-use tradition of the estate.
"Although beech is not seen as a native,”, remarked Dr. Harrington, “it is a species of tree that has been in the country for hundreds of years. It supports a wide range of birds and mammals and has a bountiful nut production ".
The Easy Treesie – Crann project started planting in Mayo during the Covid Lockdown when Peter Timlin and Richard Grimes of sustainable brand “Pure Clothing” organised the planting of 1,000 native saplings with 3 local schools.
The Straide community picked up the baton and has added hundreds more saplings to the count, distributing trees from their community hall to Toomore, Bohola, Foxford and Newport in time for National Tree Week.
The project acknowledges the support of its many tree-planting volunteers and its supporters all over Ireland including the Dept. of Agriculture, Food and the Marine.