Renowned as among the great gardens of the world, Mount Congreve Gardens offer visitors a dynamic and sensory experience.
Ireland: Following a €7 million redevelopment, the gardens of historic Mount Congreve House, in Kilmeaden, County Waterford, have reopened to visitors.
The gardens are made up of 70 acres of intensively planted woodland, a four-acre walled garden, and 16km of walkways. Planted on a slight incline overlooking the River Suir, they feature thousands of different trees, plants, and shrubs.
The redevelopment works have resulted in a re-invigoration of the gardens taking the experience to the next level. Visitors can now explore three different walking routes peppered with creative interpretation and play features that tell the story of Mount Congreve and its botanic collection.
Exploration of the gardens begins in the eighteenth-century country house where visitors can enjoy an immersive, multi-lingual, audio-visual exhibition of the garden and the history of the Congreve family.
From the foyer’s double doorway, visitors can catch a glimpse of the very rare ‘Chinese Room’, which features wallpaper, painted by hand in or near the Chinese port of Canton/Guangzhou, probably in the 1790s. It is said to be the only existing wallpaper of its kind in the world.
Highlights of the gardens include the Herman Dool Magnolia Walk, the Walled Garden and the Woodland Garden, which features over 50 varieties of Pieris.
During the spring and early summer, the gardens are awash with sweeps of Azaleas, Camellias, Magnolias and Rhododendrons, while in late summer a three-quarter mile walk of over 90 different varieties of Hydrangeas is in full flower.
A Mahonia Walk with over 30 cultivars cheers up the winter months with their scented yellow flowers, complemented by the red-flowering variety.
A new purpose-built visitor center has been created in the courtyard and former stables in the eastern wing of the house. It houses the Stables Café, which serves delicious local produce along with flavors and vegetables fresh from the Mount Congreve Kitchen Gardens.
A wide variety of award-winning Irish arts and crafts and artisanal food and drinks are on sale in the visitor center including Mount Congreve Garden Woodland Gin and Mount Congreve Garden signature scented soaps.
