Flying high at Airfield

Airfield might sound as if it is a place you go to board a plane, but this Airfield is an estate held in trust in Dundrum, south Dublin, that is now open to the public.

Set on , the house was inhabited by the same family for almost 100 years; it was bought in 1894 by Trevor and Lily Overend and their last surviving daughter, Naomi, died there in 1993.

Neither Naomi nor her sister, Letitia, married, and they lived at Airfield all their lives. Twenty years separated them - Letitia was born in 1880, Naomi in 1900 - but they were close friends.

In the 1970s, some time before Letitia died, the sisters agreed that they wanted the estate to pass to a trust, with the intention that the house and grounds be made available as a place of education and enjoyment.

Airfield opened its gates to the public last summer. The restoration and development programme for the house and grounds is ongoing, and will be for some time, but there is still plenty to see.

Turn off Upper Kilmacud Road and you see a wall of green; mature trees in full leaf: Scots pine, redwood, lime, laurel, beech and ginkgo.

Beyond the trees is a clear view to the Dublin Mountains, and you can also glimpse the Sugarloaf. In between lie meadows; it is a peaceful, lovely vista.

The big house is still intact, although almost none of the original furniture remains. After Naomi's death, the house and much of the contents were in poor order, and the grounds had become very overgrown.

The estate was indeed left to a trust, which is administered by a board of five: Guy French, Olivia Goodwillie, Peter Todd, John Edmondson and Brian Dornan, who is also the director and chief executive of Airfield.

"There was so much work to do," he explains. "The house was very run down and, as they grew older, the ladies lived in fewer and fewer rooms."

"The decision had to be made whether the house would be used as a venue for events or if it would be restored as a museum," says Jack Harte, who looks after Airfield's programme of readings and exhibitions.

The sisters left substantial assets, including stocks and shares - so much so that there has been enough to pay for the restoration work and cover the salaries of eight full-time and 15 part-time employees. These include a gardener and an archivist.

It was decided that the public would be better served by having the facility of a venue, and thus the furniture was auctioned off.

The ground floor of the house now contains a very pretty and atmospheric cafe, with informal seating in old drawing rooms, where the tables overlook the garden and the walls are lined with period family photographs.

"The cafe does a bomb," says Harte. "We'd probably make a lot more money if we expanded it, but that's not part of the ethos of the place. We don't want to lose the other rooms."

The old dining room and library are venues for exhibitions and readings, and can also be used for small education- and arts-related meetings.

In return for showing an artist's work, the trust takes one of the pieces, to add to its collection.

It's the gardens, grounds and Mulberry Market that most people will come for. There is a working farm with poultry, sheep and cattle, as well as vegetable and herb gardens. The market sells produce from the farm, as well as shrubs, preserves and other home-made food.

There is a circular walk around the grounds, which takes in formal gardens, a pet cemetery, paddocks, fields, a wild-flower meadow, courtyards, greenhouses and a small car museum.

The Overends loved cars, and each had their own, a big deal in the early decades of the last century. Lily Overend had a 1923 Peugeot, which they nicknamed the Flea, Trevor had a Daimler, Letitia a 1920s Rolls-Royce and Naomi a 1936 Austin Tickford.

The Daimler was sold and has not been tracked down, but the other three are on display in the grounds. Judging by the howls of delight from the visiting schoolchildren who run towards them, they are a big hit.

Schools use the estate regularly, visiting the farm and having a morning's lessons in the converted byre in the courtyard.

A class from St Raphaela's primary school in Stillorgan are sitting on the grass, having their sandwiches - those of them, that is, who can be coaxed away from feeding chickens and other such important tasks.

In addition to the big house, there are a number of other buildings on the estate, for which the trust has plans. One is a little house in its own garden, which it hopes to get funding to convert into two self-catering apartments for use by writers and artists.

This project would dovetail with the studios and print-making facilities that the trust has created. The print room was the old stables, and the names of Kitty, Norah and Nelly are still displayed on the walls of their stalls.

The trust is looking at linking up with Dun Laoghaire Institute of Art, Design &Technology to offer studio space in return for classes.

"We'd like to see resident artists or writers giving masterclasses in the studios," Harte says hopefully. At present, local groups use the studios for art classes.

Another building is being designed for aural events such as storytelling and singing. A big hearth, with a beech lintel from felled wood on the estate, provides the focal point in this cottage-style reconstruction.

It's a terrible shame, however, that the windows going in here - and elsewhere - are mock-Georgian PVC.

Sadly, the estate will also lose some of its charm in the next year or two, when a complex of seven-storey apartment blocks is built on the edge of the far meadows.

Still, it will make the secluded places that remain at Airfield even more of a retreat.

The gardens are open between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. from Wednesday to Saturday and between noon and 4 p.m. on Sundays and bank holidays. Admission is £3 for adults and £1.50 for children. Mulberry Market is open between 10 a.m. and 5 p.m. from Wednesday to Saturday and between noon and 5 p.m. on Sundays and bank holidays

Further details from the estate's website, www.airfield.ie, or by telephone on 01-2984301