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-Hello, Margaret, I'm delighted to be here. -Great to have you. | 0:14:10 | 0:14:13 | |
-Thank you very much. Look at the view you've got here. -Yes, it's very nice. | 0:14:13 | 0:14:18 | |
Stunning, isn't it? | 0:14:18 | 0:14:19 | |
Cuilcagh Mountain, it dominates the entire landscape. | 0:14:20 | 0:14:23 | |
Cuilcagh Mountain is obviously important to you, then. | 0:14:23 | 0:14:26 | |
You're in this landscape of Cuilcagh. | 0:14:26 | 0:14:28 | |
Well, I'm in the shadow of Cuilcagh. | 0:14:28 | 0:14:30 | |
It's a backdrop to everything that we do. | 0:14:30 | 0:14:33 | |
Every photograph that was taken, Cuilcagh was always in it | 0:14:33 | 0:14:36 | |
because we couldn't get rid of it and we didn't want to get rid of it. | 0:14:36 | 0:14:39 | |
It was our meteorological compass always when we were young | 0:14:39 | 0:14:43 | |
because the first place the rain arrives | 0:14:43 | 0:14:45 | |
is on the western side of Cuilcagh Mountain. | 0:14:45 | 0:14:47 | |
That's the first place the rain arrives | 0:14:47 | 0:14:50 | |
and then I know that it will soon be, in 15 minutes, it'll be here. | 0:14:50 | 0:14:54 | |
-An early warning, as it were. -An early warning. | 0:14:54 | 0:14:56 | |
And it's something that never changes. | 0:14:56 | 0:14:58 | |
I just feel it's just unscathed, it's a perfect mountain, | 0:14:58 | 0:15:02 | |
as far as I'm concerned, | 0:15:02 | 0:15:03 | |
and mountain people, like border people and island people, | 0:15:03 | 0:15:05 | |
are that bit different because we have that as our security. | 0:15:05 | 0:15:08 | |
All the time we've been having this wonderful conversation, | 0:15:08 | 0:15:11 | |
it's been difficult | 0:15:11 | 0:15:12 | |
because the most enticing smell is coming out of your cottage. | 0:15:12 | 0:15:14 | |
Come on in and get some of my home-made bread. | 0:15:14 | 0:15:16 | |
-I would love to. -Come on ahead. | 0:15:16 | 0:15:18 | |
-Here we are. -Thank you very much. No point in sparing the butter. | 0:15:22 | 0:15:26 | |
-No, you need loads of butter on everything. -You do. | 0:15:26 | 0:15:29 | |
None of those modern sensibilities! | 0:15:29 | 0:15:31 | |
The last time I sat in a house like this was 60-odd years ago | 0:15:36 | 0:15:39 | |
in Donegal - a house that's beautiful and comfortable, | 0:15:39 | 0:15:43 | |
but not connected to 20th century civilisation. | 0:15:43 | 0:15:46 | |
-Would that be a true description of where we are? -Yes, that's true. | 0:15:46 | 0:15:49 | |
We're self-sufficient in the sense | 0:15:49 | 0:15:52 | |
that I carry my water from the spring well. | 0:15:52 | 0:15:55 | |
I have oil lamps for my light. | 0:15:57 | 0:16:00 | |
-No electricity? -No electricity, no. | 0:16:00 | 0:16:03 | |
It can't be an easy way of life, is it? | 0:16:05 | 0:16:07 | |
If you're doing it for 73 years, you get sort of used to it. | 0:16:07 | 0:16:10 | |
The compensations are... You couldn't name them. | 0:16:10 | 0:16:14 | |
The solitude, your roots in society, your feeling of who you are, | 0:16:14 | 0:16:18 | |
your sense of identity, all those things | 0:16:18 | 0:16:21 | |
make up for going down to carry up a couple of buckets of water. | 0:16:21 | 0:16:24 | |
You've been here for 70-odd years. | 0:16:29 | 0:16:32 | |
It's been in your family prior to that. | 0:16:32 | 0:16:34 | |
My grandfather bought the house from his cousins | 0:16:34 | 0:16:36 | |
who were emigrating to America in 1887. | 0:16:36 | 0:16:39 | |
The deed's on the wall, actually, over there, drawn up on pig skin, | 0:16:39 | 0:16:44 | |
and they bought the house, | 0:16:44 | 0:16:46 | |
I think it was £30 10s 6d the whole thing cost. | 0:16:46 | 0:16:49 | |
It's lovely. I'm aware of my roots here, I'm aware of who I am. | 0:16:49 | 0:16:53 | |
The rootedness that you're explaining now and your family | 0:16:53 | 0:16:57 | |
and the rootedness of the landscape, the rootedness of Cuilcagh, | 0:16:57 | 0:17:00 | |
there's a kind of a correlation there. | 0:17:00 | 0:17:02 | |
Of course because you're walking on hallowed ground. | 0:17:02 | 0:17:04 | |
You're walking in their footprints. | 0:17:04 | 0:17:06 | |
They had to go to the well, they had to look down at Cuilcagh Mountain, | 0:17:06 | 0:17:09 | |
they had to hump bags of turf and creels of turf | 0:17:09 | 0:17:13 | |
and you realise what you have and you hold on to it. | 0:17:13 | 0:17:19 | |
You're a lucky woman to be here | 0:17:19 | 0:17:20 | |
and in an environment, in a snug, comfortable... | 0:17:20 | 0:17:23 | |
I don't mean physically comfortable, I mean mentally comfortable. | 0:17:23 | 0:17:26 | |
Yes, mentally comfortable. Being happy with yourself. | 0:17:26 | 0:17:28 | |
-I think it's great. -And at the lot that's been levelled out to you. | 0:17:28 | 0:17:31 | |
I think you've done very well. | 0:17:31 | 0:17:33 | |
-This is some hallway, isn't it? -Yes, it is. | 0:18:32 | 0:18:34 | |
Basil, this is a fine big house. What's its history? | 0:18:40 | 0:18:44 | |
Well, it was established in the 1700s by Lord Enniskillen, | 0:18:44 | 0:18:48 | |
which was then resident in Enniskillen. | 0:18:48 | 0:18:50 | |
It got its name from his first wife, which was Florence, | 0:18:52 | 0:18:55 | |
hence Florence Court. | 0:18:55 | 0:18:57 | |
When he picked this site, did he pick it well? | 0:18:57 | 0:19:01 | |
He did. It's a lovely setting because you've Cuilcagh Mountain, | 0:19:01 | 0:19:04 | |
Benaughlin in the background. | 0:19:04 | 0:19:05 | |
You have Lough Erne in the distance in the front. | 0:19:07 | 0:19:10 | |
Just a lovely landscape round it. | 0:19:10 | 0:19:13 | |
There's not much more you could do for a nice setting than this. | 0:19:13 | 0:19:17 | |
This would have been the original kitchen here. | 0:19:19 | 0:19:22 | |
It's a strange kind of roof, like an umbrella-type roof. | 0:19:24 | 0:19:27 | |
It is a strange roof, yeah. | 0:19:27 | 0:19:29 | |
This stove was recently refurbished last year. | 0:19:29 | 0:19:31 | |
It went across to England to get pieces made for it. | 0:19:31 | 0:19:34 | |
-Is that the original stove? -It is the original, yes. | 0:19:34 | 0:19:36 | |
-And can it be fired up? -Yes, it does. | 0:19:36 | 0:19:38 | |
-It'll be fired here on some of the visitor days. -Right. | 0:19:38 | 0:19:42 | |
-It works perfect. -But is this original? | 0:19:42 | 0:19:45 | |
-These are original here, yeah. -Right. | 0:19:45 | 0:19:48 | |
And this was the place where they cut the meat here. | 0:19:48 | 0:19:50 | |
So meat was cut there and vegetables | 0:19:50 | 0:19:53 | |
and stuff would have been in this area. | 0:19:53 | 0:19:55 | |
And the baking and stuff would have been done from there, too. | 0:19:55 | 0:19:58 | |
-Ah, if these tables could talk! -Yeah, they'd tell some stories. | 0:19:58 | 0:20:02 | |
Basil, your personal connection with this place goes way back, doesn't it? | 0:20:06 | 0:20:10 | |
My childhood days. | 0:20:10 | 0:20:12 | |
A number of us used it as a play area when we were kids. | 0:20:12 | 0:20:15 | |
We just came across the road, cos I lived on the other side. | 0:20:15 | 0:20:19 | |
We used to pinch the strawberries | 0:20:19 | 0:20:20 | |
and so on and so forth out of the walled garden. | 0:20:20 | 0:20:22 | |
You would have got them if you'd asked, | 0:20:22 | 0:20:24 | |
but they were nicer when you pinched them. | 0:20:24 | 0:20:26 | |
-Of course! -They tasted better. | 0:20:26 | 0:20:28 | |
It didn't stop you coming back later on, then, | 0:20:31 | 0:20:34 | |
to work in the estate, did it? | 0:20:34 | 0:20:35 | |
No, it didn't, no, but I started to volunteer in 1976. | 0:20:35 | 0:20:38 | |
When you volunteered as what? What were you doing? | 0:20:38 | 0:20:40 | |
Well, at that time, there was quite a few workmen here | 0:20:40 | 0:20:44 | |
and I would have put hammers and spades and shovels | 0:20:44 | 0:20:47 | |
and that for the workmen here at that time | 0:20:47 | 0:20:48 | |
and maybe repair a blade on a lawnmower or something. | 0:20:48 | 0:20:52 | |
That would have been... You didn't charge for it. | 0:20:52 | 0:20:55 | |
Are you the only volunteer? | 0:20:55 | 0:20:57 | |
No, no, I think we've something around 150 volunteers in Fermanagh | 0:20:57 | 0:21:00 | |
between the three properties and they do quite a lot of work. | 0:21:00 | 0:21:03 | |
And the fact that you've been volunteering here for 40 years now, | 0:21:03 | 0:21:06 | |
does that give you any status among the volunteers? | 0:21:06 | 0:21:09 | |
No! It does not. | 0:21:09 | 0:21:11 | |
So, first of all, to welcome you all here | 0:21:48 | 0:21:50 | |
to the Marble Arch Caves Global Geopark... | 0:21:50 | 0:21:52 | |
So, just behind us here now, you've got Cuilcagh Mountain, | 0:22:03 | 0:22:06 | |
where the park obviously takes its name from. | 0:22:06 | 0:22:09 | |
This is the highest point in County Fermanagh. | 0:22:14 | 0:22:16 | |
It's about 667 metres in height. | 0:22:16 | 0:22:19 | |
If you take a look over here to your left-hand side, | 0:23:39 | 0:23:42 | |
you'll see examples of some of the peat dams. | 0:23:42 | 0:23:44 | |
This is one of over 1,200 dams | 0:23:44 | 0:23:47 | |
that were actually constructed | 0:23:47 | 0:23:49 | |
in this area of the mountain in front of you. | 0:23:49 | 0:23:51 |