- Heywood Gardens: This enchanting site near Ballinakill combines an 18th-century romantic landscape by Frederick Trench, with lakes, woodlands, follies, and sweeping hillside views, and early 20th-century formal gardens designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens (with planting by Gertrude Jekyll). Highlights include a dramatic sunken garden with an elliptical pool and central fountain, terraced elements linked by paths, a loggia inscribed with Alexander Pope’s poetry, and circular windows framing panoramic vistas. A true masterpiece of layered garden history, it’s free to visit year-round and perfect for exploration.
- Emo Court Gardens: Surrounding the magnificent neo-classical Emo Court House (designed by James Gandon), these 35-hectare parklands showcase classic 18th-century formal design with manicured lawns, a 20-acre lake, woodland walks, rare specimen trees, glades of rhododendrons, azaleas, and camellias, plus vistas towards the Slieve Bloom Mountains. The grounds blend naturalistic parkland with structured elegance, providing peaceful trails and picnic spots, an ideal spot for appreciating grand Irish estate horticulture, open year-round with seasonal highlights.
- Gash Gardens: A privately owned, plant-lover’s paradise near Castletown at the foot of the Slieve Bloom Mountains, this evolving garden created by a dairy-farming family features a rich collection of rare and unusual plants, colourful herbaceous borders, a large rock garden with alpines, a heath garden, a moon house grotto with cascading waterfall into a lily pond, and secret paths leading to a looped riverside walk along the River Nore. Suited to enthusiasts seeking inspiration and tranquillity, it offers peaceful immersion in beauty and nature.
- Ballintubbert Gardens: This serene Georgian estate garden near Stradbally, developed since the 1850s, comprises a series of beautifully framed “Garden Rooms” around the manor house, with formal beds, lawns, and mature planting. It provides a romantic, intimate setting with seasonal floral displays and peaceful corners, ideal for those seeking elegant, understated horticulture in a historic context.
- Dunmore Country School Garden: A charming, family-run wild garden kitchen near Durrow, this productive and beautiful space blends ornamental planting with practical elements in a seed-to-table approach. Visitors enjoy vibrant borders, herbs, vegetables, and fruit, often with hands-on elements, cookery insights, and a welcoming atmosphere, a delightful example of sustainable, inspiring gardening with added rustic charm from resident animals.
Gardens to Visit
Antrim – Armagh – Carlow – Cavan – Clare – Cork – Derry – Donegal – Down – Dublin – Fermanagh – Galway – Kerry – Kildare – Kilkenny – Laois – Leitrim – Limerick – Longford – Louth – Mayo – Meath – Monaghan – Offaly – Roscommon – Sligo – Tipperary – Tyrone – Waterford – Westmeath – Wexford – Wicklow
Laois:
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