gardens down

There are few gardens anywhere in the British Isles that so successfully combine the artistic with the practical in such complete accord with their site as Rowallane....

Mount Stewart offers to the visitor one of the most complete gardens in the care of the National Trust. The garden, designed by Edith, Lady of Londonderry from 1921, includes almost every style of gardening and supports an incomparable plant collection.

Frances and Charles, 3rd Marquess of Londonderry, became celebrated figures, leading a glittering social life and travelling extensively. They collected works of art and furniture on their travels and brought them back to Mount Stewa...

The perfect location for Family and Friends to have fun, enjoy themselves and breathe in the Countryside Experience. The Park has something for everyone and is designed to allow individuals, corporate and private Organisations, school and youth club outings, toddlers play groups or senior citizens to have and enjoy that all important day out....

THE LONG HAUL TRAIL Entrance is through the fantasy Barbican Gate. The Long Haul Trail starts from the carpark and is marked by red arrows. Have a look at the map display to orient yourself. A pleasant amble along the lovely Shimna river and over Parnell's Bridge where you meet up with the Ulster Way. The next 3-1/2 miles (6 km) are on the Ulster Way, up and down, a delight of a walk. As you drop down from Curraghard, the final viewpoint, with splendid views of Newcastle and Dundrum Bay, wa...

These Gardens, dating from the 18th century, are situated in the lush woodlands of Seaforde Demesne. The walled gardens of some five acres are divided in two. The upper part which formerly was the kitchen garden, now contains an extensive tree and shrub nursery. Also in this part is the Seaforde Tropical Butterfly House containing hundreds of exotic free flying butterflies and other insects and reptiles. The lower half of the Walled Gardens was in the past a formal garden with extensive be...

In recent years a particularly worthwhile horticultural development has been the placing of nurseries beside gardens open to the public. In this way plants admired and seen flourishing in the garden may be purchased next door. This is well illustrated at Seaforde where, in addition to a garden and nursery, there is also a butterfly house....

In the midst of a beautiful 700 acre estate on the shores of Strangford Lough, seven miles east of Downpatrick, stands Castle Ward - an 18th century "architectrual wonder"....

The restored walled garden contains a superb variety of rare and exotic plants, the centre piece of which is a hornbeam maze. Its rose-covered arbour can also be viewed from the Mogul Tower. Beyond the walled gardens lies an area called the pheasantry where huge Rhododendrons grow among large mature trees and attractive shubbery....

In medieval Ireland, abbeys invariably had their own gardens - orchards, kitchen gardens and, sometimes, a physick garden. The new Physick garden at the twelfth century Cistercian monastery of Grey Abbey is a national reconstruction based on much general research on gardens of its period. Small beds, enabling the precious medicinal plants to be cultivated and cropped from all sides, are assembled into a simple but elegant design. An instructive Department of the Environment leaflet helps t...