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The little village of ENNISKERRY , twelve miles south of Dublin, forms a popular stopping-off point for visitors heading for Powerscourt House, just a mile or so to the west (daily 9.30am-5.30pm, winter times may vary; www.powerscourt.ie; GBP1.50/1.90). It was here, in the heart of the Pale, that the Anglo-Irish were at their most confident and relaxed. Powerscourt is a particularly bold statement of a theme repeated all over Ireland: big houses with adjoining tied villages. But in Powerscourt's case, the 14,000-acre estate stands as a sort of metaphor for the passing of the power of the Ascendancy. For Powerscourt is an estate without a heart, the shell of a house, designed in 1740 by the German architect Richard Castle and burnt out in 1974 on the eve of a big party that was to have celebrated the completion of an extensive programme of renovation. From afar, the Palladian mansion still looks impressive, set in its rolling parklands. Inside, however, only shadows of its former glory remain. There's fresh hope that it will be fully restored once more, and you can at least get some sense of its past grandeur from the smoky brickwork remains of the double-storey ballroom. Fortunately, photographs of the room before the fire, with its classical columns and lavish gilt decoration, survive and are on display in the attendant exhibition . The exhibition also includes some interesting material on Powerscourt's strategic importance from the twelfth century onwards and its role in the constant struggle between the Anglo-Irish and the local Irish clans. The famous gardens attached to the house (same hours as exhibition; GBP4/5.08; exhibition and gardens GBP5/6.35) are mid-Victorian, but echo earlier European classical gardens. The designer of the upper terraces was one Daniel Robertson, an individual with a relaxed approach to his job. Robertson had himself trundled about the gardens in a wheelbarrow, clutching a bottle of sherry; when this was exhausted his creative powers waned and he finished work for the day. However unorthodox his working methods, the end result was fine: formal gardens with stepped terracing leading the eye down to a lake, with the weird whipped-cream peak of the Sugarloaf Mountain as a backdrop. This set piece aside, there's plenty of diversity: neat walled gardens, a pet cemetery, and a very fragrant Edwardian Japanese garden . The terrace cafe bar and counter-service restaurant , overlooking all of this, makes an ideal spot from which to enjoy both house and gardens and offers excellent food at very reasonable prices. The spectacular 400ft Powerscourt waterfall , lies three miles from the house: turn right out of the main gate and follow the signs along the road (daily: summer 9.30am-7pm; winter 10.30am-dusk; GBP2/2.54).
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