What do you get when you cross a horticulturalist with a flower and décor shop owner? A tranquil, green space, a beguiling bathroom and winner of Home of the Year.
How much value does a garden add to the value of a home? It depends on the house, any estate agent will tell you.
In Co Kildare, down an exit off a busy road, the giant globes of hydrangea Annabelle, like creamy snowballs on sticks, set a surprising scene.
A large water feature is a soundtrack to a green and tranquil space.
This is a home where they like to watch Gardener’s World on a Friday and have been sitting on the news that they were this year’s winners of the Home of the Year title, since last October.
They’re not quite sure how they contained themselves, but are very much delighted with the gong.
“Enough friends had suggested we go on the show, but I never felt worthy enough, says one half of the couple, Lorcan Burke, owner of Absolutely Fabulous Flowers in Celbridge. I was afraid of the criticism.”
One night at about 1 am, and after a glass or two or three, he found the courage to apply while scrolling.
“I found out about 24 hours later,” interjects Adrian Shard, manager and plant buyer at The Orchard, Celbridge and the other half of this green-fingered double act.
He has designed show gardens at Bloom and at the RDS, but really enjoys what he’s doing at The Orchard.
The pair, whose Instagram handle is The Botanical House, tracks the garden and interior at every stage of the year, and have been together for decades.
About 20 years ago, they decided to build on a plot of land that they bought from Adrian’s mother.
The site had been a paddock filled with horses.
At its centre was a burgeoning weeping willow that Adrian planted some 15 years earlier, from a cutting from a tree at his uncle’s house, after his father died.
“We had a dream that we would build a home together. We fell in love with a sink at The Ideal Homes Show. It was almost like an engagement ring,” Lorcan recalls. They got married in 2016.
The tree was critical to the whole design.
By the time they brought architect Pat Kerr to walk the site, he convinced them to reimagine their house plans to take account of the arboreal feature and that the inside would become the outside, that there would be no discernible line between one and the other.
They had a plan for everything, even the summer house, which they built from the builder’s materials left on the site after the house was completed.
“In our day, it was called make do and mend. Now it’s called recycling,” says Lorcan pithily, adding, “It’s referred to as a tea house in the series, but really, it’s more of a G and T house. Adrian doesn’t even drink tea.”
Flowering dogwoods, which mark the spot, are a favourite of Adrian’s.
Inside, Lorcan’s collection of china and delph, including his mother’s pieces, is on display.
The rattan chairs on the terrace were found at Mullens of Laurel Park, Bray, where many other pieces were found, including the bedside lights in their room.
It’s a place he loves to rummage.
The house itself is two barn-style buildings that are linked by a glass structure, Lorcan explains.
It’s a large three-bedroom property that extends to 232 square metres.
“It’s a home with bigger rooms. We use all of the spaces all of the time. And all open out the garden,” he explains.
One side is home to the kitchen, utility and hall on one side with the principal bedroom above it.
The sitting room is on the other side with two more bedrooms above it.
There's a baby grand piano occupying a fair bit of real estate in the hall.
They bought it at nearby Straffan Antiques. In theory, Lorcan is the piano man.
He had started to learn. While he says it's great fun, he admits he has no idea how to play it. Instead, they have held a few concerts here, charity events and recitals.
Beside the contemporary fire in the kitchen is a set of armless chairs that came from Lorcan’s shop, where he gets in some one-off pieces.
Ideas for the house come from their travels. Marble skirting boards in the hall, for example, were spotted in a hotel in Montecatini Terme in Tuscany.
The ensuite bathroom is probably the property’s most bewitching spot. With only the two of them in the house, along with dogs, Cosmo, a boxador, a boxer labrador cross, and Holly, a fox terrier, they went big on the ensuite.
At over 11 square metres, it’s the size of an average bedroom.
The freestanding bath overlooks the willow, so you feel like you’re literally in the canopy.
“Compared to the other fabulous houses on the show, our house hasn’t changed since it was built,” Adrian says modestly. However, in that same time period, the garden has grown into itself.
All of the judges liked elements of the house, but the property really beguiled Hugh. Tellingly, there was very little of his usual “wild” or “delicious” remarks.
In fact, for once, the man who has anchored Home of the Year throughout was rather restrained in his commentary.
He knew then that it was his contender for the title.
As a broadcaster and an architect, this knowledge and these contributions will be sorely missed.
You can watch the full series of Home of the Year on RTE Player
