Reynolds role in Ballyfin restoration featured in documentary

Those who wondered whatever happened to Trim gardener Jim Reynolds will have a chance to find out on Tuesday when RTE screens ‘Ballyfin’, a documentary on the restoration of a great country pile in Co Laois.
Jim was best known for his garden project on the family farm on the Kildalkey Road in Trim, Butterstream Gardens, visited by Prince Charles on his trip to Ireland in 1995,  and now part of the site of Butterstream Manor housing development, 
Jim was deeply involved in the restoration of Ballyfin as project manager. 
Ballyfin is a one hour documentary that tells the story of the rise, decline, and rebirth of one of Ireland’s architectural treasures. Designed by the renowned Irish architects Sir Richard Morrison and his son William Vitruvius, it was subject to one of the most extensive renovations ever undertaken in a private house and is now regarded as one of the best hotels in Ireland.

Set beneath the gentle contours of the Slieve Bloom Mountains the house and demesne at Ballyfin in County Laois are rich in tradition and history. For centuries these lands were associated with the O’Mores, one of the region’s ancient clans.

The demesne was established in the early decades of the seventeenth century. Over time, as the property passed through different owners, including the older brother of the Duke of Wellington, a succession of houses were built here.

In 1823 construction on the present house was begun. At this point the house was owned by Sir Charles Coote an Irish baronet. The Coote family’s heritage and prestige was reflected in the magnificence of the building – a country house built to provide suitable grandeur for political entertaining and everyday living. Sir Charles sold an entire town, Jamestown in County Leitrim, to fund the project.

For one hundred years, the Coote family enjoyed the splendour of life at Ballyfin, where more than 100 people were employed.

The First World War, Ireland’s War of Independence and the Civil War meant that houses like Ballyfin were almost impossible to run and maintain as before. The house was closed up, the family moved to England and in 1927 Ballyfin was sold to the Patrician Brothers, a Catholic teaching order.

The house was turned into a boarding school where for eight decades students were educated.

But over time this great house became an increasing burden for the dwindling number of Patrician Brothers who lived there. Eventually, parts of the building began to deteriorate and by the end of the century Ballyfin became one of the most endangered country houses in Ireland.

In 2002 the Patrician Brothers were approached by someone looking for a house to restore and took the opportunity to sell Ballyfin. The decision was made easier because the new owner allowed the school to remain onsite for five more years.

There followed an ambitious and painstaking restoration of Ballyfin; it was perhaps the most challenging and successful restoration of a private house ever seen in Ireland.

The vision was to restore the house, converting it into a hotel while returning it to its original resplendent condition. The desired effect was to create the impression of a house from which the family had only recently taken leave, gone out as it were, for a day’s leisure and likely to return at any moment.

Jim Reynolds says: “This was a unique opportunity to rescue one of the most important Georgian houses in the country with its rich and lavish interiors and to give it a new life and purpose.

“This was not to be a cold commercial exploitation as has been the case in many restoration projects but an occasion in which the place could be remade as a house and home which welcomes guests as if coming to a friend’s private place – all within the existing historic fabric of the place and enhoused by the surrounding 614 acre demesne with its restored lake, gardens, fountains, grotto, tower and parkland.”

Ballyfin airs on Tuesday, 10th November, on RTE One, at 10.15pm.

Ballyfin was awarded 12th place in the 100 Best Hotels and Resorts in the World (International Traveller Magazine),The Ultimate Destination for 2014 (Harper's Bazaar), Top 10 Upscale All-Inclusive Resorts 2013 (Forbes magazine), 4th in the Top 20 International Hideaways (Andrew Harper Reader's Choice Awards 2015) and numerous other national and international awards and accolades.