Brought to book

What better way to escape than to go for a book-club weekend at a country house, with a spot of leisurely activity thrown in, writes GEMMA TIPTON

READING A great book is like escaping into another world, so what could be better than reading a great book in a setting so gorgeous you feel as if you are already in another world? This double escapism was recently conjured for me, over a beautiful spring weekend, by a combination of the writers JG Farrell and Patrick McCabe and the marvellous hospitality of the Maddens at Hilton Park in Co Monaghan.

Monaghan is one of Ireland’s Cinderella counties and, despite his towering reputation, Patrick Kavanagh possibly did it no favours. The view from my bedroom window at Hilton was of rolling fields being gently grazed by sheep, ancient oaks and beeches, and fluffy white clouds against a blue, blue sky. No stony grey soil in sight; instead magical misty mornings turned into bright days, and all green and gorgeous.

Hilton Park has been in the Madden family since 1734. It is a magnificent house on 240 hectares, and for the past 25 years or so the family has offered friendly and relaxed accommodation as part of the Hidden Ireland group (hiddenireland.com). A new twist on this is its book-club weekends, and we were there to celebrate the inaugural event.

The first part of the weekend actually happens a month before, with the arrival by post of the book. Anyone who is already a member of a book club will know about the thrill of reading something you might not have thought of reading before, but it was was brand new to me. The Hilton Book Club weekend made me realise what I’ve been missing out on.

The drive to Hilton, once you leave the main roads, winds through farmlands and pretty lanes, past the village of Newbliss. Then, turning into the estate’s long avenue, you round a corner and finally see the stunning house. It manages to be both imposing and welcoming, and is full of antiques, trinkets, paintings and family objects.

We were hard-pressed to decide whether to sink into a sofa with a gin and tonic first, or explore the pleasures of the gorgeous bedroom (floor-to- ceiling windows, the kind of bed you have to possess mountaineering skills to climb on to). Soon I realised that with a little scheduling I could achieve both, and I began to relax.

The Maddens are excellent hosts, in that you can do as much or as little as you like. Our first evening was spent with family supper in the kitchen, although “family supper” is a pale way of describing the feast, all of it home-cooked, and much of it grown on the estate.

A wide-ranging conversation danced around the edges of the book – we all seemed to be saving our thoughts for the main event the next day. With this in mind, I also steered clear of too much wine as, without wanting to be the keenest girl in school, I did want to avoid being too hungover on the Saturday.

Back upstairs, I opened one of the windows to let in the sounds of the countryside and made myself a cup of tea from the tray thoughtfully left in my room. I climbed into bed and nibbled a biscuit, trying not to get too many crumbs on the sheets, before flicking once more through our book, The Siege of Krishnapur, by JG Farrell.

The morning brought a range of options: golf, walking, a trip to visit the pigs (pretty saddlebacks), fishing, boating or, for the very brave, swimming in the lake. I opted for rowing, and discovered I was rather good at it, although my smugness dissipated when I realised I wasn’t equally good at getting out of a rowing boat gracefully. Ah well, a gin and tonic before lunch soon restored my equilibrium.

“Let’s meet again in an hour or so,” suggested Johnny and Lucy Madden after lunch, and my stressed city self began to fret about what I would do to fill that hour, until I found out that the most delicious 60 minutes can pass in an armchair, looking out at the fields beyond the windows. A lovely walk followed, and our host pointed out champion trees and the ha-ha (a boundary trench that secures the land without interrupting the view) and gave us a brief version of the story of the Maddens, involving many colourful characters, one of whom almost gambled everything away.

After changing for dinner we came down to someone playing Schubert on the concert piano, pre-dinner drinks and Pat McCabe sitting on the sofa. Funny, opinionated and a born performer, McCabe, who is from nearby Clones, had selected Siegefor us, and had prepared a short talk on what he took to be the magic of the book.

And it is a magical book. Settling down to read it, I had been immediately transported to the world of the Indian rebellion of 1857, and it's a testament to Farrell's genius that the world he created is surprisingly funny – after all, how often do you find yourself laughing at cholera? Farrell himself was born in Liverpool of Irish descent, and Siegewon the Booker Prize in 1973. Following a period of travelling, Farrell eventually moved to Ireland, tragically drowning in an accident in west Cork in 1979.

A lively wine-fuelled discussion followed, not always in perfect agreement, and we all threw ourselves into the spirit of it. What McCabe took to be fantastical (a character riding his horse into a drawing room and jumping a sofa before rewarding the horse with champagne), others, myself included, believed quite probable. Thinking more widely and differently about a book I had already enjoyed opened up my sense of it, and where before I had always thought of reading as a private experience, I started to see the pleasures of sharing discussions about it with a group.

After our feast, and it really was a feast, we went next door, where McCabe himself took to the piano and sang songs until the small hours.

Book clubs do require planning – you have to reserve a month or so in advance for Hilton, so that they can send out the books, and also invite a writer to lead the discussions, but it’s well worth the effort of thinking ahead. These writers are not the books’ author, but people who will bring another dimension to the conversation; future invitees include Colm Tóibín, Anne Enright and Eugene McCabe.

You can also bring your own book club, and nominate what you want to read yourselves – and the Maddens will do the rest. If you like, they’ll also arrange for creative-writing sessions on one of the days, so you can add your own literature to the weekend agenda.

On my second morning I contemplated barricading myself into Hilton, like the characters in Siege, though not to keep rebellious Indians out so much as to stay in such a wonderful place forever.

In one of the book’s passages, a character looks out a window, and the sight of a band wearing scarlet uniforms against the green lawns of the residency “had stained his mind with a serious joy”. I felt rather like that, having had a weekend of events so pleasurable and memorable that, in the end, I returned to Dublin so much the better for it that I would be keen to do it all over again.

A book-club weekend at Hilton Park includes two nights’ BB, two four-course dinners and aperitifs, plus the book itself, and costs €350 per person. 047-56007, hiltonpark.ie

Turning over a new leaf: a feast of feastivals for literature lovers

Patrick Kavanagh Annual Poetry Weekend

April 17th-18th

Inniskeen, the Co Monaghan hometown of Patrick Kavanagh is the location for a weekend of workshops to suit beginners and also those with some experience of writing poetry.

patrickkavanaghcountry.com.

Cúirt International Festival of Literature

April 20th-25th

Contemporary writing in Galway city. Established and emerging writers, and celebrations as this is the festival’s 25th year.

cuirt.ie.

Strokestown International Poetry Festival

April 30th-May 2nd

Readings and workshops in the beautiful Strokestown Park House, Co Roscommon. All events are free.

strokestownpoetry.org.

Listowel Writers Week

June 2nd-6th

Co Kerry is home to Ireland’s longest-running writers’ week, supporting and celebrating writers, with workshops from big names, competitions and readings.

writersweek.ie/2010.

Flat Lake Festival

June 4th-6th

Literature, arts and all manner of unexpected cultural things and surprises at Hilton Park, Co Monaghan.

theflatlakefestival.com.

Immrama: The Lismore Festival of Travel Writing

June 10th-13th

Discover a whole world of writing in this beautiful

Co Waterford town, plus workshops for aspiring travel writers.

lismoreimmrama.com.

Trim Swift Festival

July 1st-4th

Comedy, politics and academic thinkers, plus plenty of craic to celebrate the full range of Jonathan Swift’s genius in Trim, Co Meath.

trimswiftfestival.com.

West Cork Literary Festival

July 4th-10th

Bantry is home to this festival covering everything from journalism to crime and poetry, plus readings from Irish and international writers.

westcorkliteraryfestival.ie.