52 | THE LOCAL TOURIST


A Year in the Woods, Montalto through the Seasons


Paul Clements looks back on living in a Co Down woodland in the early 1990s...


BY PAUL CLEMENTS


IN summer 1992 my wife Felicity and I sold our terrace house on the Ormeau Road in Belfast because she wanted a garden. We moved to live in


the Montalto estate


near Ballynahinch in mid County Down, where we had 400 acres on our doorstep,


somewhat


larger than what my wife had anticipated. We rented the idyllic Lakeside cottage, which was round the corner from the main house and lived there for a year from the autumn of 1992 to the summer of 1993. The history of the estate is intriguing. The land was bought by Sir George Rawdon, created first earl of Moira in 1761, and Montalto house was built during the 1760s. Since then five dynasties have lived in the house up to the present occupants, the Wilson family, which runs it as a remarkable amenity forest. The estate was particularly noted for its gardens when in the 1770s and ’80s thousands of trees were planted, and


with its endlessly inventive piercing but relaxed sweetness. I had never planned to do anything with my notes,


scanning them every so often, silently wondering if they would form a book since I was uncertain that there was sufficient material. I was busy working full time as a journalist and writing other books. However, in early 2024, the commissioning editor from a publisher in Dubin asked me if I would give some thought to writing up my notes. I spent part of that year working on the book, writing and revising it, putting


together photographs, and it was published last summer. Storms are a fact of life in any woodland. In January 1839 thousands of trees were destroyed during the Night of the Big Wind. History frequently repeated itself during the winter months throughout the decades and in January 1993, we experienced a night of


severe storms with many trees flattened. But the most ferocious storm in living member came in


January 2025 when the exceptionally dangerous Storm Éowyn caused severe damage in the Montalto grounds with hundreds of trees brought down. Veteran oaks, in some cases 200 years old, and 150-year old beech trees, were among the casualties in a trail of destruction that left a palpable sense


www.nitravelnews.com For the gardeners and


maintenance team the struggle with nature meant months of back-breaking work to ensure areas were secure. The forests in Montalto are not uniform blankets of woodland but reflect a diversity of mixed ages of mature and younger trees. Four champion trees survived: liquidambar, giant redwood, sycamore, and an Austrian pine which is the Irish champion girth for its species. The year after we had left the


cottage, in 1994, the estate was sold to Gordon and June Wilson and two years later they moved into the mansion house. They spent twelve years meticulously restoring the house to its original


condition. By 2009 plans were in place to revitalise the dying grounds and the repurposed demesne was revealed to the public in autumn 2018. More than 30,000 trees were planted along with new flowering shrubs and bulbs and many different grass species. New gardens were created and a lost garden was uncovered


while the estate is open for weddings, park runs and numerous other events. An excellent café and shop attracts many people and has become extremely popular with locals and visitors. A fresh energy brought a new dynamism to the running of the demesne. The gardening history is now once again as compelling as its past, and worthy of the eighteenth-century heritage from which it stems. Living in Montalto brought an appreciation of elusive birds


moving around the grounds in parties, hanging around in branches of oak, ash or sycamore. Birdwatching makes life better. Thirty minutes spent observing birds can send spirits soaring and benefits mental health. Having drunk deep on the wildlife of the estate, renting a


patch of it as a tenant was a privilege and the fringe benefits were priceless. We look back on a bewitching twelve-month experience in which we were privy to a covert world, somewhere to cherish soothingly special but often fleeting moments. We experienced nature on display, learning of the comings and goings of woodland creatures, witnessed the drama of the


February 2026


blackbird against the worm, the spider at odds with the fly, the boxing hares and scampering squirrels. We relished the company of trees and the gossip of the


forest, appreciating Mother Nature and her entanglements at her most serene and most severe. Living there also brought an understanding of the rhythms and hierarchies of the countryside, the speed of the passing seasons, and heart- stopping moments that have stayed long in his memory. Sightings of wildlife and magical vignettes of nature enriched our time in the cottage. It may be an exaggeration, but 33 years after our time in


Montalto, I am still living in the afterglow of those twelve months.


A Year in the Woods: Montalto through the Seasons by Paul Clements is published by Merrion Press.


a pinetum was created with rare specimens. Other owners included the Ker family in the 19th century, Lord Clanwilliam in the 20th century, and the Wilson family – the most recent owners. In 1979 the estate was bought by a business consortium,


John Hogg and James P. Corry & Son, who combined to buy it for £1million. Part of the grounds were sold off in 1984 along with the dairy unit and milking parlour and in the late 1980s the partnership abolished farming activities and sold off livestock. Fast-forward to the autumn of 1992 when we moved to live in the cottage. A groundsman and gamekeeper were employed, while


others were engaged in tree work as well as cutting and selling logs. Commercial events including driven shoots and the launch of the new Ford Mondeo car. But the estate had fallen into a dilapidated condition and many areas were neglected. Despite this, it was still a revelation for us to enjoy the


woodlands and I kept a journal of our time spent there so I would have a record of the changing seasons. These are known to writers as ‘nibble’ notes and were scribbles about the weather, storms we experienced, snowfalls, heavy deluges of rain as well as sunshine. My notes concentred on the trees and wildlife, especially the birds, squirrels and other creatures found in the grounds. Frequently I walked or cycled through the paths, armed


with binoculars, to identify and observe treecreepers, tits, and finches, as well as thrushes, wrens, wood pigeons and many other forest birds. The dawn chorus of early May, the true hallmark of a bright spring which started around 4.30am, was one of the highlights of our time. An uplifting soundtrack, it was a cacophony of whistling, cawing and rich bubbling, where the blackbird was the undisputed lead vocalist


of bereavement. Every part of the estate was affected and led to the


closure of several of the walking trails. One year on, and by January 2026 the Woodland Trail as well as the History Trail at Ednavady hill remain closed, although other trails and areas are open. Ednavady was the site of the Battle of Ballynahinch, part of the 1798 Rebellion by the United Irishmen and in a curious analogy has become a different type of 21st century silent battlefield of wounded trees. Last year, during the immediate post-storm clear-up, fallen trees were removed, but it was a complex and unprecedented situation. The protracted recovery work involved using heavy machinery in areas with difficult access.


Photo Credit: Trevor Ferris


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