EXPERIENCE THE ABUNDANCE OF THE UN-EXPLOITED & UN-TRAMPLED GARDENS OF IRELAND WHERE A PROFUSION OF PLANTS GROW WITH UNPARALLELED EXUBERANCE. THIS ITINERARY WILL SUIT ALL INTERESTS FROM LANDSCAPE GARDENER TO PLANTSMAN, AND TO EVERY GARDEN THERE IS A HOUSE WITH A HISTORY & A WONDERFUL INTERIOR.
Day 1 Arrive Dublin. Your driver will meet you at the airport & take you to the
Merrion Hotel where you will be met by the tour manager who will be on call to answer any questions & help with arrangements. A gentle day is suggested, strolling in the park wandering around the city, or enjoying some of the spa treatments at the hotel.
Day 2 Your guide, one of
Ireland's top garden experts, will meet you at breakfast & give an overview 
of Irish gardening. First stop will be
Airfield Garden, a time capsule from 1880 surrounding a manor house on the southern outskirts of the city. Here you will find rare & unusual plants sourced from around the world. Depart for a curator tour of the National Botanic Garden.
The Botanic Gardens were established in 1795, occupying a beautiful forty-eight acre site on the banks of the Tolka River & contain over 20,000 different plant species. There are lovely trees, outstanding displays of shrubs & perennials & the magnificent Victorian curvilinear glasshouses. Lunch here with the curator. Then on to
Malahide Castle to see The Talbot Botanic Gardens. The Gardens were created by Lord Milo Talbot from the 1950s & many species & varieties collected by Lord Talbot from his Australian estates. You'll spend a little time today seeing some of the more traditional sites of Dublin including
St Patrick's Cathedral. The group will dine together in the hotel and
have a talk from Finola Reid, a highly respected garden historian with
an. encyclopaedic knowledge of Irish garden history, TV garden show
presenter, director of The Historical Gardens of Ireland and a member of
the board of The Irish Heritage Council
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| The Botanic Gardens | Purple Weeping Beech at Malahide | Dublin |
Day 3 Sunday April 29th After breakfast we'll visit Carysfort Lodge, an old-fashioned terraced Regency house, near the centre of Blackrock, lovingly restored by Siobhan & David Dillon, who installed running water in 1965! The garden was created over the past 35 years. It is well structured by trees, making it surprisingly private & is carefully planted, giving the impression of a much larger garden. Another Blackrock garden is Deepwell. The house, originally called Fairy Hill, was built on this site in 1810.. It stands on a 1.2ha site overlooking Dublin Bay with Howth Head on the skyline. The garden was re-designed in 1995 by Mitchell & Associates & now contains an Italianate garden. Lunch at leisure in Powerscourt Gardens. Set in the foothills of the Wicklow Mountains, it is a sublime blend of formal gardens, sweeping terraces, statuary & ornamental lakes together with secret hollows, rambling walks & over 200 varieties of trees & shrubs. Our final visit will be to Fernhill Gardens There the giant Wellingtonian redwoods in the broad walk at Fernhill form a cathedral-like aisle. Beyond them stretches the greenness of the Victorian laurel lawn & a magnificent springtime blaze of colour from rhododendrons & azaleas. Many of these specimens were introduced from the Himalayas by the William Hooker expedition. A pub supper with traditional Irish music and dance.
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| Deepwell | Powerscourt | Fernhill |
Day 4
First to Graigueconna a romantic garden of 1.5ha, designed in 1908. Long flower borders run either side of a central grass path, leading to "a jungle area of walks, pool, shrubs, ferns, rose beds & an old orchard, with apple trees festooned with roses & clematis". There are many unusual plants - Southern Hemisphere shrubs & aroids abound.
Killruddery is your next stop - unique in having the most extensive early formal gardens,
dating from the1680s.. Killruddery has been home of the Brabazons (the Earls of Meath) since 1618. Lunch here, and then on to
Mount Usher, a lovely 8ha "Robinsonian” garden, laid out along the Vartry River, dating back to 1850. The river is spanned by suspension bridges, from which numerous waterfalls can be enjoyed. Return to Dublin for tea at
The Dillon Garden - an urban garden, an oasis in the city, where a series of little gardens, each with a different theme, are arranged around a central stretch of water. This incorporates five different rectangular sections, the longest about 6 feet wide, with 2 small & 1 larger waterfalls, all set in limestone.
Helen Dillon, the daughter of Lord Rollo, is one of Ireland's most famous
gardeners and an expert on gardening in small spaces. A TV presenter, she
has also written several books on gardening. Dine at leisure in the hotel or one of the nearby restaurants.
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| The Dillon Garden | Mount Usher | The Dillon Garden |
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| Graigueconna | Graigueconna | Kilruddery |
Day 5 Tuesday May 1st
Depart Dublin for the Wild West, Larchill, is one of Ireland's most important, rediscovered gardens. Created in the mid 18th century as a 'Ferme Ornée' (Ornamental Farm) & as such is the only surviving complete garden of its type in Europe with
ten magical garden follies.. There is a picturesque eight acre lake with two fairytale island follies, a formal Walled Garden with Shell Lined tower & a decorative gothic farmyard. On to the garden of Belvedere House for lunch. The Victorian Walled Garden exercises all the senses with a fragrant herb garden, old rose beds, tumbling herbaceous borders, alpines, climbers and vegetable potager. The highlight of the garden is a gothic eye-catcher known as The Jealous Wall.
Ashford Castle for dinner and the night. Ashford Castle is a medieval castle near Cong in County Mayo on the shore of Lough Corrib. The castle was built in the 13th century by the Anglo-Norman de Bugos family, after their defeat of the O'Connors of Connaught. Ashford was rebuilt and extended from the 1850s by Benjamin Guinness. Today the castle is a five star hotel, one of Ireland's finest. Dinner in Hotel
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| Larchill | Belvedere | Larchill |
Ashford Castle
Day 6 Wednesday May 2nd
Tour Connemara, first visiting Kylemore Abbey. Built originally as a Castle (1868), it is one of the best examples of Irish neo-gothic architecture. The magnificent six-acre Victorian Walled Garden (under restoration) features a woodland walks, restored garden buildings and glasshouses. On to
Errislannan Garden. In May the bluebells are a sea of blue. Spring brings the camellias, azaleas, rhododendrons and the other flowering shrubs in the herbaceous borders. Finish the day with a visit to
The Marquis de Stacpoole's garden at Errisbeg for tea. Errisbeg
gardens are situated on 3 acres that are known as a rambling, rocky, heather
garden. With many different varieties of shrubs and rare plants these gardens
present themselves together as a magnificent collaboration of colour and beauty.
Unique to Errisbeg Gardens are statues and sculptures created by contemporary
Irish Artists. Dinner at leisure. BLT
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Kylemore |
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Errislannan |
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| Richard de Stacpoole | Errisbeg |
Day 7 Thursday May 3rd
Spend the morning in Galway city – the medieval “city of the tribes”. Private lunch at
Ross Castle. This 15th Century Martin family castle has a wonderful 18th Century garden that has been recently restored to its original elegance. In the afternoon visit
Brigit’s Garden, a place that brings Celtic heritage alive through nature, art and symbolism in 11 acres of woodland and wildflower meadows.
Ardcarraig will surprise you at every turn, its magic being its incorporation into its landscape of rocks, bogs & streams. Its owner Lorna is an inspirational gardener who has built an international reputation as a plants woman. Dinner in Hotel followed by traditional Irish music in the Dungeon Bar.
BLD
Day 8 Friday May 4th
Depart Shannon
