Ballywalter Park , recently featured in the BBC series " The Peer and the Park" will once again be the venue for the 26th BASCGame Fair. However the two days of the Fair are but a glimpse of life on the estate, so at Countrylifestyle 2003 - The new Irish Country Sports and Living Festival visitors can see virtually every aspect of the estate at work including touring the house and gardens. Until then by the kind permission of The Lord Dunleath, Country Sports and Country Life takes you behind the scenes for a closer look at what it means to forge your life around…
The BALLYWALTER
inheritance
 

 

The current Lord Dunleath, Brian Mulholland, inherited Ballywalter Park in 1994, following the death of his cousin, Henry, the fourth Lord Dunleath, although
 it was not until three years later, in 1997,
that he actually took up his inheritance
and moved to his new seat.

"Most people take alook at where
I live and call me lucky", he admitted, "but I would prefer to think of myself as
being fortunate. There is a difference. I have had the good fortune to inherit Ballywalter Park for the rest of my lifetime, but
along with that, comes the
obligation to at least preserve, and if possible to improve upon, that
inheritance for the nextgeneration."
Looking at the magnificent Victorian
edifice that is Ballywalter House, set in
twenty acres of pleasure grounds and
surrounded by 1,100 acres of estate,it is
not hard to agree that yes, fortune has
indeed been kind to Brian Mulholland, the

sixth Lord Dunleath. It is also not difficult to imagine the investment it must
require to, as he says, 'at least
preserve, and if possible to improve upon' the house and estate.
   "Yes, indeed," laughed Brian
over a simple but delicious lunch of
Vibse's home made breads, French
cheese and smoked salmon, washed
down with a cool glass of beer. "I
once calculated that it costs £1,000
per week simply to stand still in
this house. On top of that, we have
been very busy on restoration work
and there is still more to do."

Equipped for the task
Once again, through good fortune or more
appropriately, through hard work, Lord Dunleath is excellently equipped to
undertake the onerous task of preserving
and enhancing his inheritance.
Having studied at the Royal Agricultural College, he has the right academic background for the farming side of the
estate. A solid career in industry, with a
specialism in marketing, also stands
him in very good stead. Brian was formerly the head of
 
Country Sports and Country Life Summer 2002