LIFE IN THE BIG HOUSE
Step inside the social world of one of Ireland’s great country houses and discover dining as ritual, theatre, and power. The Art of Dining – Life in the Big House is a scripted, character-led experience at Mount Congreve Gardens, guided by a Senior Estate Steward who never quite left service!
Available on selected dates | Booking is essential
What to Expect: This is a 60-minute guided experience, delivered in two parts. Inside the House (approx. 20 minutes) Begin in the Large Drawing Room, also known as the Chinese Room. Lined with rare, hand-painted Chinese wallpaper, this remarkable interior reflects 18th-century wealth, global trade, and taste. A carefully selected group of Irish silver dining and service pieces reveals how hospitality was staged through ceremony, control, and skilled labour. Mount Congreve was famously the last house in Ireland to employ liveried servants, giving particular depth to an experience shaped by hierarchy, discipline, and performance. In the Gardens (approx. 40 minutes) The experience then continues outdoors with a guided walk through selected garden areas. This section shows how the estate sustained the table—supplying produce, shaping after-dinner movement, and reinforcing the social rituals of the Big House. This is not a conventional house tour, but a focused, immersive experience that connects interior splendour with the working landscape beyond, bringing the elegance—and the hidden labour—of the Big House into sharp focus.
Mount Congreve House
Mount Congreve House is an 18th-century country house set at the heart of the estate, overlooking the River Suir. While primarily a private residence, it also operated as a place of formal hospitality, where entertaining was integral to the identity and reputation of the house.
Unlike many Irish country houses, Mount Congreve retained established patterns of domestic service well into the 20th century. This continuity provides important historical context for an experience concerned with dining, service, and social order, grounding it in a house where such traditions endured longer than almost anywhere else in Ireland.
The Large Drawing Room (The Chinese Room)
The house element of the experience takes place in the Large Drawing Room, commonly known as the Chinese Room—one of the most architecturally and visually significant interiors at Mount Congreve.
Designed for reception and after-dinner sociability, the room extends the full depth of the house and was intended as a setting for display rather than daily use. Architectural features include floor-to-ceiling windows, a parquet floor, and Waterford Crystal chandeliers.
The room’s defining feature is its hand-painted Chinese wallpaper, rare in both survival and scale. Its immersive quality creates a highly theatrical interior, making it an especially appropriate setting for an experience focused on ceremony, presentation, and performance.
For those wishing to learn more about the Chinese wallpaper, further information can be found at the end of this page.
About the Experience
The Art of Dining – Life in the Big House examines how dining functioned as a structured social system rather than a simple domestic activity.
A carefully selected group of Irish silver dining and service objects, dating from the late 17th to the early 19th century, is used to illustrate how meals were organised, how authority was expressed, and how behaviour was regulated through material culture.
Rather than focusing on a single event, the experience follows the broader rhythm of a Big House occasion, placing objects, spaces, and movement within a wider framework of labour, timing, and control.
The experience is curated by Éamonn McEneaney and the curatorial team of Waterford Treasures, with generous loans from Noel and Stephanie Frisby, David Boles, Colman Curran, and private donors.
Tickets & Booking
Gardens & Grandeur Ticket
Duration: Approx. 60 minutes with unlimited garden entry for the day. Fitness: Easy (short outdoor walk) Guided: Scripted, character-led Suitable for: Adults and older teens
Accessibility: Limited – not suitable for visitors with reduced mobility
Gardens & Grandeur is a character-led guided experience set in 1775, led by a Senior Estate Steward. The experience combines rare access to the house with a guided walk through selected garden areas, revealing how dining operated as ritual, ceremony, and performance in a great country house.
The experience begins inside the Large Drawing Room (approx. 20 minutes), where storytelling and historic detail explore life above and below stairs and the order and theatre of dining. It then continues outdoors with a 40-minute guided garden walk, focusing on estate life and how the gardens sustained the house and its table.
| Ticket Type | Online (€) | At Desk (€) |
|---|---|---|
| Adult | €22.00 | €23.00 |
| Concession (Senior / Student) | €20.00 | €21.00 |
| Members/Forest Residents | €18.00 | €18.00 |
| Children (8–16) | €12.00 | €12.00 |
Booking
Pre-booking is essential. Tickets may be purchased online or at the admissions desk.
Groups (10+ visitors)
For group bookings and availability, please contact the Estate Office:
reservations@mountcongreve.com
LIFE IN THE BIG HOUSE
