Further Details

First built in the 1770s

Woodbrook was substantially

reconstructed by the Blacker family

after being damaged in the rebellion of 1798.

It is a spacious and welcoming

house with an unusually big drawing

room and a spectacular spiral “flying?o:p>

staircase, the only one of its kind in Ireland.

A pre-1914 visitor from England writing

in 1920 remembered Woodbrook as:

“…a large, square house---very

comfortable, very solid, very

?/span>unpretentious—it has an undulating

park covered with fine old trees and

beside it rise up the mountains as if in

protection. There are beautiful woods

there, full of huge beech trees and in

some places near the river groves of

silver birch. There are masses of

rhododendrons everywhere and a little

later the ground is covered with

bluebells. A little river runs through the

woods gurgling over the stones; you can

hear its music sounding all down

the valley.?o:p>

Giles and Alexandra FitzHerbert and

their four children have lived at

Woodbrook since 1998, restoring, decorating and improving it,

adding bathrooms and central heating

where needed. He used to be an

ambassador in South America and she

is an Anglo-Italian-Irish-Chilean.

They are both, therefore, well

accustomed to entertaining guests

from different parts of the world.

Opera

In the summer of 2001 Woodbrook became the venue for full scale garden opera,

?/span>with Opera ?/span> la Carte’s production of Rigoletto.

In subsequent years there were productions of

The Barber of Seville and Cos?/span> fan Tutte.

Woodbrook then joined with other neighbouring big houses

to form Blackstairs Opera.