This episode of Lesser Spotted Ulster sees Joe Mahon visiting Seaforde in Co. Down. Here he meets Patrick Forde and hears a ghost story about Gregory’s Gap before exploring the estate, including Seaforde Gardens and the Tropical Butterfly House. Joe meets and handles a python in the reptile house, sees butterfly chrysalises, fish and parrots and feeds peacocks on the lawn.
On Allan Chamber’s farm, Joe finds out about Harry Ferguson’s first demonstration of the revolutionary hydraulic system. His grandfather bought his first tractor after witnessing its efficiency at the demonstration. His uncle, John Chambers, was a draughtsman with Harry Ferguson and was credited with inventing the lynchpin used to connect link arms to the back of tractors. Ballydugan lake powered Ballydugan Mill, which was being refurbished at the time, and Joe gets a beautiful view across the countryside from the top floor. Down at the lakeside, Noel McCann, a geologist talks about the basket-of-eggs topography of the drumlin hills left over from the Ice Age, discussing what lies beneath the surface of the ground. At Ivy Kennedy’s house he finds a container garden with no soil as her plants grow on leaf mould. Mickey Kelly, a local on the Seaforde Estate, helped to build a hedge maze with a lookout tower to stop visitors from getting stuck inside. Mickey accompanies Joe as tries to find his way to the maze’s centre.