Emer O'Callaghan: The ladies who made Garinish Island

I love summertime in Ireland, even though my job as a beautician means I cannot take holidays during peak months as we are always so busy.

I never go abroad in summer as work is so busy, but I do avail of mini breaks in Ireland - I just love history and exploring our own beautiful country.

I know my readers enjoy when I write about the beauty I see and experience in my own life, so this week I want to tell you about the wonderful time I had on Garinish Island, where I took a step back in time to learn about two remarkable women, Violet Bryce and Maggie O’Sullivan, who made it the amazing tourist spot it is today.

Recently, we had a break in West Cork, and we all know how spectacular it is, particularly in the summer. But the highlight for me was our day trip over to breath-taking Garinish Island.

The boat trip to it, while short, sets the tone and the sense you are about to see something very different. The boat man pointed out seals and eagle nests on the way.

From the moment I set foot on the island, I felt peace and tranquillity. It’s hard to explain - you will have to go yourself to experience it.

We were greeted by a lovely staff member from the OPW and told the first tour of the old cottage would be at 12.30pm.

If you are like me and love history and flowers, you will be in your element on Garinish Island. I was mesmerised at all the beautiful flowers and colours, and mostly how well they were flourishing and blooming.

There was such a tropical climate, you could feel it in the air, and it was clear to see that these gardens had been the result of a labour of love for hundreds of years.

I thought of my late nanna and how she instilled in me a love of plants and flowers, and how she would have loved this island so much.

We had to learn more, and after exploring the whole island, we joined the first tour of the day.

The boat man was right when he advised us to do the house tour, it’s the only way to really learn about the amazing woman that built all this for us all to enjoy today.

Violet Bryce was the lady who put Garinish Island on the map, and I want to do her justice here because she was a force of nature, every woman today would be inspired by her.

Violet moved to the gardener’s cottage on the island following the death of her husband.

Many years before, her husband had bought Garinish Island as a project - he wanted to build a mansion there. While the house was not built, much work had been put into developing the gardens there.

Violet decided to move to the island to try to find a way of making a life and living for herself.

She was used to maids and had staff in her big English mansion, so to move herself over to a small island in West Cork was a huge risk to take for any woman - but she did it Her business brain knew this island had potential, and she was right.

Violet lived in the old basic cottage and did her research. She was told as the island was so damp, the chances of things growing on it were slim, so being the smart woman she was, she put an ad in a newspaper for a Scottish gardener who knew the climate better.The gardens opened to the public in 1925.

She next hired a local girl, Maggie, as her housekeeper who, along with the male gardener, was given bed and board on the island.

Sally, our tour guide, summed it up so well when she said the house and the way it is laid out is like the occupants have just stepped out for the afternoon and let us all come in and step back in time.

Maggie’s room was so simple and her clothes, shoes and belongings were all visible to see. What struck me most, with my trained eye of course, was her Yardley lavender soap set in a box at the end of her wardrobe!

She also had a framed picture of her little dog, a Jack Russell, who lived on the island with her.

The gardener had a separate room for doing soil and tests for the garden, and again it was very clear this man was ahead of his time, and what he did has lasted over 150 years.

Violet’s bedroom has a real fox fur scarf - I nearly ran when I saw his head on the chair - and the most beautiful dresses, very like the Monsoon dresses we see today, all hand-embroidered and so elegant.

Simplicity, elegance, and class were very evident here.

Violet transformed the island with the aid of her two helpers, and she and Maggie laid on home baking and teas for the visitors. A very good business was started, and today there still is a tea room café where you can enjoy a tea or coffee and a selection of various baked goods.

Violet had her connections, and cooked dinner for four presidents of Ireland over the years in her little cottage on Garinish Island.

She gave locals employment and, as the business grew, so did her wealth - so much so that she even bought Eccles Hotel on the mainland, and used it for injured soldiers to be rehabilitated.

Violet was part of the suffragette movement and Countess Markievicz was a cousin and close friend.

Violet’s eldest son came to live with her on the island as she got older, but even in her sixties, she was competing in rowing races and beating girls half her age - she was a power-house of a woman.

Her son built a modern extension onto the old cottage and what I loved most about this story was the loyalty, Violet put in her will and left clear instructions to her son that Maggie and the head gardener who had lived with her for so many years and who were like family to her must be kept on. This was their home and that was not to change.

By the time of her death, Garinish Island was one of the biggest tourist destinations in West Cork with over 5,000 visitors weekly, and her son kept this going too.

Maggie, the local girl who took the job at 15 years of age, was the last living occupant with her dog on the island, aged 91.

I felt sad when I heard the tour guide say how the gardeners would go home every night back on the boat and Maggie would stay on an island all alone at that age of her life.

Later, the Bryce family offered the island to the state as they no longer could afford to maintain it. The state refused, but a deal was done and the state took ownership of Garinish Island as a gift.

Over 150 years later, Violet Bryce’s legacy remains, through the amount of employment this island has brought to the local people alone.

The boat man told us he has made his living doing these trips his whole life, as his father did, and he will pass it onto his daughter now.

The respect and love for Violet and Maggie and all who worked on Garinish island is amazing to see.

Two boats run every half-hour, full of people going out to see this unique island, where it certainly doesn’t feel like you are in Ireland.

I loved everything about this story, how Maggie, the gardener, Violet and her son made themselves a family and living and life from this beautiful island.

Violet saw the potential, she was savvy and business-minded, and what she has left behind is unique.

Had she not done it, I believe Garinish Island would be nothing but an overgrown place like so many we have in Ireland today.

Violet saw the beauty, she felt the peace and tranquillity, as I did too the moment I set foot there.

As women, we have come so far in today’s world, but we forget the power-houses and stalwarts like Violet Bryce and Maggie.

I felt I had been transported back in time, before phones and social media and all the many screens we stare at all day.

I’d highly recommend a visit this summer to the breath-taking Garinish Island to take in all the beauty and nature it has to offer.

Thank-you to all who worked for hundreds of years to make it the majestic haven it is today, a place where we can all step out of our modern, manic, stressful lives and step back in time to a life of peace, tranquillity, nature, simplicity, and beauty.

I would put Garinish Island as one of Ireland’s hidden treasures for sure.

• Emer O’Callaghan is a Beauty Doctor and skin specialist who Won Irish Beauty Therapist of the year and works at Emerald Beauty Clinic, 0214365949. A Multi Award Winning Five Star Gold Standard Clinic 2008-2025. www.emeraldbeautyclinic.ie. follow us on Facebook/instagram/ Tik Tok Now.

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