A Family of Artists
Creativity runs through generations of the family at Burtown.
The botanical artist Lydia Shackleton was part of the wider Shackleton family, while Wendy Walsh became one of Ireland’s foremost botanical painters, producing some of the most celebrated botanical illustrations of the twentieth century.
Her daughter, Lesley Fennell, is a painter whose work is deeply connected to gardens, landscape and the natural world around her.
That relationship between art and place continues through the family today, with photography, painting, interiors and garden-making all contributing to the evolving character of Burtown.
Sculpture in the Landscape
Across the gardens, parkland and farm walks, sculpture appears as part of the landscape.
Some works sit prominently within the open parkland; others reveal themselves more quietly amongst trees and planting.
Rather than existing as a formal sculpture garden, the works have been placed gradually over time, becoming part of the experience of walking through Burtown.
Art & the Gardens
The relationship between art and gardening is particularly strong here.
Plants grown at Burtown have appeared in botanical paintings, gardens have provided subjects for generations of artists, and the changing landscape continues to inspire painting and photography today.
Art and garden-making share much the same instinct — looking closely, responding to place and allowing things to evolve over time.
