Oak Park Forest Park, County Carlow, Ireland

Oak Park Forest Park, outskirts of Carlow town t: Carlow Tourist Office, College Street, Carlow 059-9131554 There are few locations which could rival the beauty and tranquility of Oak Park Forest Park. Ideal for leisurely strolls and walks, a visit here is a relaxing and pleasurable experience and a must for any visitor to Co. Carlow. Color coded circular walkways of varying lengths with excellent accessible surfaces and easy gradients make a visit here an enjoyable experience for young and old alike.

The park is a mature, mixed species woodland of over 120 acres with a predominance of beech, oak, scots pine, silver, fir larch and sycamore. The proximity of the walkways to the extensive collection of ferns, mosses and woodland flora provides the visitor with an ideal opportunity to interact with nature. Boasting a rich diversity of wildlife, the lakes and their surrounds provide a habitat for swans and duchs, while the islands shelter many wild and game birds. The Woodland Walks have been laid out to encompass the broadest range of natural features. Extending over 4 kilometers they include Butlers Wood Look and the Lake Path, Fox Covert Track and Sally Island Trail. All the walks are wheelchair accessible.

Situated on the outskirts of  Carlow Town, the park is an oasis of tranquility and a popular destination for walking and educational visits. The park also features a picnic area, informal leisure areas and seating at regular intervals.

Oak Park Forest Park makes a great stop along your Ireland vacation for a nice walk and a picnic.

Leighlinbridge - the Garden Village

Leighlinbridge: The Garden Village, t: Mary Meaney, Secretary, Leighlinbridge Improvement Group 086-6027751The Leighlinbridge district is rich in history, favored with fertile land and enhanced by the River Barrow which meanders slowly through the village. The foundation for its beauty lies directly with the residents who demonstrate a sense of pride and work tirelessly to preserve and enhance this unique area. This pride is evident by a range of gardens, built and designed by the local community to commemorate various aspects of village life over the years.

The Millennium Garden consists of seven small individual gardens, each with its own theme represented by trees, shrubs and stones. Using materials indigenous to the local area, the garden tells the story of life through a series of themes including peach and tranquility, happiness, friendship, reconciliation hope, harmony and eternity.

The Vivaldi Garden is based on Vivaldi's musical concerto The Four Seasons and comprises four formal gardens, each depicting a season of the year. To create a formal effect each rectangle is lined with Buxus sempervirens (Boxwood) and formed into triangles with lavender while each season is represented by specific planting.

The Garden of Remembrance straddling the River Barrow commemorates important occasions in the history of the village including the visit of the Canadian Prime Minister, Brian Mulrooney, a World War 1 Memorial and the Entene Florale Gold Medal Award. A number of commemorative trees have been planted together with ballerina roses and shrubs.

The Sculpture Garden is dedicated to three of  Leighlinbridge's most famous sons - Cardinal Patrick Francis Moran - Australia's first Cardinal, John Tyndall, the mountaineer and scientist who developed the light pipe, the forerunner to fiber optics and Captain Myles Keogh, second in command to General Custer who lost his life at the Battle of the Little Big Horn in 1876 at the hands of the Sioux.

Leighlinbridge is a must see when visiting in County Carlow. Travel to Ireland with Celtic Tours World Vacations

Huntington Castle Gardens

Huntington Castle and Gardens, Clonegal, Co. Carlow t: 053-9377160These gardens were mainly laid out in the 17th century by the Esmondes who built Huntington Castle in 1625. This includes the French limes on the Avenue, the "parterre" or lawns to the side of the house, the fish ponds on either side of the center walk through the wilderness and the majority of Yew trees which comprise the Yew walk. Larger plantings have resulted in Huntington possessing a number of great Irish trees, including four varieties of hickory, a cut leaved oak, Siberian crab and buckeye chestnut.

Explore the kitchen gardens with the recently restored greenhouse, followed by the enchanting Italian gardens and the ruins of the old Abbey before walking through to the 'Wilderness' woodland where formal walks and pathways will guide you past shrubs, flora and bamboo to the old turbine house which supplied electricity to Huntington as early as 1888. The bottom of the wilderness is marked by the delightful River Derry which flows as the boundary between County Carlow and Wexford. Then head back to the castle and experience the fascinating guided tour or simply take a well earned break in the new tearooms.

Herb Gardens at Kilgraney House, County Carlow, Ireland

Herb Gardens at Kilgraney House, Borris Road, Bagenalstown, Co. Carlow t: 059-9775283Kilgraney takes it's name from the Irish 'cill greine' which means 'sunny wood'. These wooded and seculed grounds overlook the tranquil Barrow valley and are situated halfway between Carlow Town and Kilkenny City.

Consisting of a series of interconnecting herbal gardens there is a large kitchen garden, a tea walk, a medicinal herb courtyard, a medieval monastic herb garden and a garden of aromatic and fragrant herbs.

The enclosed kitchen garden supplies the guesthouse with fruit, vegetables and herbs and has been run on organic lines for almost ten years. It consists of gravel paths and eleven raised timber beds of varying sizes grouped to form a modern rectangular 'potanger'. Here you will find unusual leafy plants such as mibuna, mizuna and komatsyna amongst more traditional salad varieties. Next to the kitchen garden is the tea walk, a short gravel path lined on one side with plants suitable for infusions and herbal teas. The medicinal garden, set in a granite courtyard, consists of nine raised beds in Irish oak timber. Each bed is planted with herbs suitable for treating a particular part of the body. In a lower courtyard you will find an aromatic garden planted with herbs for fragrance and also for their usefulness in cosmetic preparations. In an adjoining courtyard there is a modern interpretation of a medieval monastic herb garden with four oak raised beds surrounded on two sides by an oak timber cloister. Finally, a circular cosmic garden helps to explain and facilitate our understanding of the ancient belief that there is a connection between people, plants, planets and constellations.

Hardymount Gardens, County Carlow, Ireland

Hardymount Gardens, Tullow, Co. Carlow. t: 059-9151769One of the largest Spanish chestnuts in Ireland greets travelers on arrival to 2.5 acres of lawns and shrubs surrounded by magnificent beech and oak trees. A wonderful walled garden behind the house contains many unusual plants and flowers in the herbaceous border - lilac colored Erysimum, yellow helianthus, beds of old roses, downy variegated mint, mimosa, blue agapanthus, California poppies, Chinese foxgloves and much, much more. The grass paths take you past the pond with lilies and fish to espaliered apple trees, Lobelia tupa, a pergola clothed with wisteria and underplanted with hollyhocks and foxgloves and on to a vegetable garden. A Summer House at the end of the garden in a sheltered corner provides a quiet area for rest and relaxations. A truly amazing walled garden worth knowing because of its owner and her dedication to gardening.

Huntington Castle Gardens

Huntington Castle Gardens, Clonegal, Co. Carlow t: 053-9377160 w: www.huntingtoncastle.com

These gardens were mainly laid out in the seventeenth-century and include the French limes on the Avenue, the “parterre” or lawns to the side of the house, the fish ponds on either side of the centre walk through the wilderness and the Yew Tree Walk. A lake at the bottom of the wilderness was built for ornamental purposes but next to it is one of the earliest water turbine houses in Ireland, providing Huntington with its own electricity as early as 1888.

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Duckett’s Grove Walled Gardens and Pleasure Grounds

Duckett’s Grove Walled Gardens and Pleasure Grounds, Duckett’s Grove, Carlow

t: Carlow Tourist Office 059-9131554
w: http://carlowtourism.com/ducketts-grove-walled-gardens-pleasure-grounds-2/

Duckett’s Grove, the eighteenth, nineteenth and early twentieth-century home of the Duckett family, was formerly at the centre of a 20,000 acre estate that has dominated the Carlow landscape for over 300 years. Even in ruin, the surviving towers and turrets of Duckett’s Grove form a romantic profile making it one of the most photogenic historic buildings in the country. The revival of two old walled gardens has been completed by Carlow County Council, the old paths revealed and the beds and borders reinstated. Stylistically the new planting schemes echo the past yet reflect changing fashions, utilizing plants and planting patterns that may have evolved over time.

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Delta Sensory Gardens and Garden Centre

Delta Sensory Gardens and Garden Centre, Strawhall Estate, Carlow t: 059-9143527 w: www.deltasensorygardens.com

Delta Sensory Gardens consist of a series of interconnecting gardens of a multi-sensory nature covering 2.5 acres (1 hectare). The gardens offer something for every season from thousands of daffodils and tulips in spring to the abundant double flowering gorse in summer and the rustic colour of the many trees and beech hedges in autumn and into winter. The amazing water features will take your breath away, with splashing fountains, cascading waterfalls and the kugal, one ton of pink marble floating on a cushion of water.

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Altamont Gardens

Widely respected as the jewel in Ireland’s gardening crown, Altamont Gardens are an enchanting blend of formal and informal gardens with riverside walks covering over 40 acres (16 hectares). The estate gains much of its character from the many mature trees, both natives in the avenues and woodland areas, and exotic specimens throughout the gardens including Cedrus deodara (Deodar Cedar), Taxodium distichum (Swamp Cypress), Quercus rubra (Red Oak) and Sequoiadendron giganteum (Giant Redwood). Lawns bisected by sculpted yews slope down to a lake surrounded by rare trees and rhododendrons and lead in turn to a very different garden featuring exotic shrubs and trees. A fascinating walk through the Arboretum, Bog Garden and Ice Age Glen with its canopy of ancient oaks and huge stone outcrops leads the visitor to the River Slaney.

The original Victorian layout was enhanced by Fielding Leckey Watson (and later by his daughter Corona North), following his purchase of Altamont in 1924. Corona travelled extensively in her search for plants, which continue to flourish throughout the gardens, including Cornus kousa ‘chinensis’ and Liriodendron tulipifera (Tulip Tree). When Corona North, who lovingly cared for the gardens for over 50 years died in 1999, the gardens were left to the State at her request. Ongoing restoration and maintenance continues under the careful stewardship of the Office of Public Works.

Altamont is a great experience at any time of year starting in spring with the wonderful snowdrop collection, one of the largest in Ireland and moving on to daffodils and other spring bulbs such as Fritillaria meleagris (Snake’s Head Fritillary) and Muscari armeniacum (Grape hyacinths). Rhododendrons, azaleas and later on the rose collection is in full bloom in midsummer, followed by contrasting autumnal colours and the beautiful silhouettes of the mighty trees in mid-winter.

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Carlow Garden Trail

With Spring in the air, now is the time to hit the Carlow Garden Trail, a collection of 18 different gardening attractions including great old gardens that have been lovingly restored and maintained throughout the years, and smaller gardens which are maturing beautifully with time. Award winning garden centers and forest parks compliment the joy of a visit here. The Garden Trail ranges from small to very large gardens, garden centers and forest parks; and from old to new, so there is something to stimulate both the novice and the experienced gardener.

Visitors have the opportunity to follow Ireland's first ever dedicated gardening trail which features identifiable road signs linking all 18 attractions. The trail can be driven in a day if so desired but naturally visitors are encouraged to relax and enjoy the remarkable beauty of these gardens, garden centers and forest parks at a more leisurely pace! the trail can be joined at any gardening attrcation and driven in either direction while large map boards are located in the grounds of each participating center providing further information. Visit www.carlowgardentrail.com for more details on the trail and each gardening attraction. Please check with each gardening attraction regarding opening times and admission rates.

Altamont Gardens, Tullow, Co. Carlow t: 059- 9159444
Widely respected as the jewel in Ireland’s gardening crown, Altamont Gardens are an enchanting blend of formal and informal gardens with riverside walks covering over 40 acres (16 hectares). Altamont is a great experience at any time of year starting in spring with the wonderful snowdrop collection, one of the largest in Ireland and moving on to daffodils and other spring bulbs. Rhododendrons, azaleas and later on the rose collection is in full bloom in mid-summer, followed by contrasting autumnal colours and the beautiful silhouettes of the mighty trees in mid-winter.

Altamont Plant Sales - The Walled Garden @ Altamont, Altamont Gardens, Tullow, Co. Carlow t: 087-9822135
An unmissable highlight of a visit to Altamont Gardens is the Walled Garden situated within the grounds of the estate and run privately by gardener and nursery man Robert Miller. The area consists primarily of the Corona North Commemorative Border planted to honour the late Corona and Altamont Plant Sales and Nursery. Always renowned for its extensive range of herbaceous perennials, Altamont Plant Sales can boast of having one of the largest collections of old shrub roses available for sale to the gardening public year round.

Arboretum Lifestyle & Garden Centre & Arboretum Inspirational Gardens, Kilkenny Road (N9), Leighlinbridge, Co. Carlow t: 059-9721558
Commitment to excellent customer service, quality products, unbeatable choice and value for money has earned the Arboretum Home and Garden Heaven the coveted title of Bord Bia Garden Centre of the Year and Best Customer Service Award on numerous occasions. Arboretum Home and Garden Heaven is far more than a place for the gardening enthusiast. Spacious and well laid out, the centre guides visitors through elegant displays of garden furnishings, pot plants, outdoor plants, an extensive gift section, hand crafted furniture and lots more.

Helping visitors to create their own dreams, the Arboretum Inspirational Gardens allows people to see that gardening can be enjoyed in any busy lifestyle. The concept behind this design was to create a garden that is easy to care for, demands low maintenance and delivers endless enjoyment. The gardens feature a children’s maze which is a maximum height of 1 metre while families can also pay a visit to the fun mud hut or visit the friendly koi who live in the pond.

 

Ashlawn Garden Centre, Donore, Bagenalstown, Co. Carlow t: 059-9721175
Conveniently situated close to the town of Bagenalstown in an open country setting,  Ashlawn Garden Centre is a family-run business where excellent service and advice is on hand in a friendly and informative manner. Ashlawn Garden Centre offers a wide range of healthy trees, shrubs, roses and perennials at outstandingly good value while the new 3,000 square feet shop stocks a large selection of sprays, sprayers, terracotta and glazed pots, tools, pet accessories,  fountains, lights and bird baths, seasonal bulbs and seeds.

Delta Sensory Gardens and Garden Centre, Strawhall Estate, Carlow t: 059-9143527
Delta Sensory Gardens consist of a series of interconnecting gardens of a multi-sensory nature covering 2.5 acres (1 hectare). The gardens offer something for every season from thousands of daffodils and tulips in spring to the abundant double flowering gorse in summer and the rustic colour of the many trees and beech hedges in autumn and into winter. The amazing water features will take your breath away, with splashing fountains, cascading waterfalls and the kugal, one ton of pink marble floating on a cushion of water.


Duckett’s Grove Walled Gardens and Pleasure Grounds, Duckett’s Grove, Carlow
t: Carlow Tourist Office 059-9131554
Duckett’s Grove, the eighteenth, nineteenth and early twentieth-century home of the Duckett family, was formerly at the centre of a 20,000 acre estate that has dominated the Carlow landscape for over 300 years. Even in ruin, the surviving towers and turrets of Duckett’s Grove form a romantic profile making it one of the most photogenic historic buildings in the country. The revival of two old walled gardens has been completed by Carlow County Council, the old paths revealed and the beds and borders reinstated. Stylistically the new planting schemes echo the past yet reflect changing fashions, utilising plants and planting patterns that may have evolved over time.

 

Hardymount Gardens, Tullow, Co. Carlow. t: 059-9151769
One of the largest Spanish chestnuts in the country greets you on arrival to 2.5 acres (1 hectare) of lawns and shrubs surrounded by magnificent beech and oak trees. A wonderful walled garden behind the house contains many unusual plants and flowers in the herbaceous border. The grass paths take you past the pond with lilies and fish to espaliered apple trees, a pergola clothed with wisteria and underplanted with hollyhocks and foxgloves and on to a vegetable garden.  A summer house at the end of the garden in a sheltered corner provides a quiet area for rest and relaxation.

Herb Gardens at Kilgraney House, Borris Road, Bagenalstown, Co. Carlow t: 059-9775283
This gardening attraction features an enclosed kitchen garden consisting of gravel paths and eleven raised timber beds of varying sizes grouped to form a modern rectangular ‘’potager’’. Next to the kitchen garden is the tea walk, a short gravel path lined on one side with plants suitable for infusions and herbal teas. The medicinal garden, set in a granite courtyard, consists of nine raised beds in Irish oak timber.  In a lower courtyard is an aromatic garden planted with herbs for fragrance and also for their usefulness in cosmetic preparations. A medieval monastic herb garden and a circular cosmic garden also form part of the attraction.

 

Huntington Castle and Gardens, Clonegal, Co. Carlow t: 053-9377160
These gardens were mainly laid out in the seventeenth-century and include the French limes on the Avenue, the “parterre” or lawns to the side of the house, the fish ponds on either side of the centre walk through the wilderness and the Yew Tree Walk. A lake at the bottom of the wilderness was built for ornamental purposes but next to it is one of the earliest water turbine houses in Ireland, providing Huntington with its own electricity as early as 1888.

Leighlinbridge: The Garden Village, t: Mary Meaney, Secretary, Leighlinbridge Improvement Group 086-6027751
Leighlinbridge enjoys a range of gardens, built and designed by the local community to commemorate various aspects of village life over the years. These include the Millennium Garden, seven small individual gardens, each with its own theme represented by trees, shrubs and Carlow stone. The Vivaldi Garden is based on Vivaldi’s musical concerto The Four  Seasons while the Garden of Remembrance commemorates important occasions in the history of the village. The Sculpture Garden is dedicated to three of Leighlinbridge’s most famous sons – Cardinal Patrick Francis Moran, John Tyndall, the mountaineer and scientist and Captain Myles Keogh, second in command to General Custer.

Morgan’s Garden Centre, Green Road, Carlow t: 059-9143092
Morgan’s Garden Centre was established in 1988 on the outskirts of Carlow Town. It has since become known as a retailer of plants of the highest standard including many Irish varieties and plants grown and nurtured on site. They carry a range of garden accessories and gardening solution products to deal with your growing pains!

Oak Park Forest Park, outskirts of Carlow town t: Carlow Tourist Office, College Street, Carlow 059-9131554
Ideal for leisurely strolls and walks, a visit here is a relaxing and pleasurable experience and a must for any visitor to Co. Carlow. Colour coded circular walkways of varying lengths with excellent accessible surfaces and easy gradients make this an enjoyable experience for young and old alike. The park is a mature, mixed species woodland of over 120 acres with a predominance of beech, oak, scots pine, silver fir, larch and sycamore. Boasting a rich diversity of wildlife, the lakes and their surrounds provide a habitat for swans and ducks, while the islands shelter many wild and game birds.

Rathvilly Garden Centre, Rathvilly (on N81), Co. Carlow  t: 059-9161594/087-8344582
Rathvilly Garden Centre is a family-run business offering a comprehensive range of home grown bedding plants and shrubs for the gardening enthusiast. This country garden centre is set on 5 acres (2 hectares) with a 1 acre (.5 hectare) amenity garden with picnic and children’s play area.  A large covered plant area also includes a fine gift shop while the garden centre features a range of bulbs, seeds, garden tools and a large selection of trees, shrubs, container pots, fruit trees, patio slabs, outdoor pots, moss peat, trellis and fencing.

Rathwood, Rath, Tullow, Co. Carlow t: 059-9156285
Rathwood is a multi-award winning family owned centre with a fashionable gift and garden shop, elite furniture and interiors shop, a bright, busy restaurant with home baking and a Mediterranean style garden centre and courtyard. It is simply a treasure chest of interesting and unusual ideas, displayed in room-by-room style to help you create the home and garden of your dreams. 

 

Rath Wood Forest Walks, Rath, Tullow, Co. Carlow t: 059-9156285
The Forest Walks, extending over 4 kilometres, have been carefully planned to include a short leisurely wheelchair accessible walk to the pond and a longer looped “Molloy Walk”. This working forest is a valuable and rewarding educational tool, given the vast ecological resources of flora, wildlife and tree species contained within its 185 acre (75 hectares) boundaries. Expect to see deer, rabbits, mink, foxes, pheasants and dragonflies among others. The forest contains a great variety of tree species including beech, oak, sitka spruce, norway spruce, birch, douglas fir and alder.



Whether visiting Ireland in Spring, Summer or Fall follow the Carlow Garden Trail for enchanting gardens, spectacular vistas and historic houses. Start planning your Ireland vacation with Celtic Tours World Vacations

Gardens and Country Parks of Ireland's Causeway Coast

To witness the drama of Ireland's Causeway Coast and Glens is to walk with the ancient spirits of its deep glens, forests, gardens and country parks. Experience a unique blend of majesty and sheer beauty. You won't just walk or drive through this land: you will take a journey of the spirit.
Here are a few of the gardens and country parks to visit on your next vacation to Ireland with Celtic Tours World Vacations:

Benvarden Gardens
The Walled Garden at Benvarden has been in existence since 1788, when it is shown on a map of the estate. There are rose beds, long herbaceous borders and a very fine kitchen garden. Also a small lake and woodland walks, and a tea room.

The Walled Garden of Glenarm Castle
Dating from the 18th century, the Walled Garden of Glenarm Castle is one of the odlest in Ireland. Beautiful in all seasons, the garden is open from May through September. The Tea Room is open daily from Easter until mid-October.

Altarichard
There are two way-marked hill walks at Altarichard on the scenic route between Magherahoney and Cushendall. The Milibern and Breen forest trails, collectively known as Croaghan Way. Walkers can enjoy these challenging circular upland routes taking in the summit at Croaghan Way. Walkers can enjoy these challenging circular upland routes taking in the summit at Croaghan from which magnificent panoramic views to Rathlin Island and Scotland can be seen.

Ballyrobert Cottage Garden and Nursery
A specialist nursery stocked with a wealth of cottage garden plants is open to the public. Tea making facilities are available for visitors. Ballyrobert Cottage Garden is a beautiful and unique Ulster Cottage Garden. The garden extending to 6 acres is designed around an historic 17th century landscape, with the original cottage and barn being key features.

Monstown Wood
A little over a mile of pathway will lead you on your journey through a mix of habitats, including grassland, mixed woodland and recently planted woodland. The Three Mile Water River meanders alongside the new woodland and winds in to meet you at certain parts of the journey. Walkers can keep an eye open for dragonflies, damselflies, bluebells, bats and buzzards.

Hazelbank and Jordanstown Parks
Providing some of the best shoreline walks and cycle paths around Belfast Lough. In addition, the 9 mile Millenium Way is a unique recreational path which links many of the villages edging the lough from Whitehouse to Whiteabbey.


Riverside Park
The majority of the town's Highway to Health passes through the forty acres of open parjland in the heart of Ballymoney town. The park offers riverside walks, cycle paths, lake with ducks, children's play area and a band stand.

Carnfunnock Country Park
Country Park consisting of 191 hectacres of mixed woodland, colorful gardens, walking trails and coastline. Attractions include walled garden with unique sundials and maze.

The Landscape Center
The Landscape Center is a family owned award winning garden center in beautiful histroic Donegore. Enjoy home cooking and our famous lemon meringue pie in our 120 seat coffee shop overlooking Donegore Moat. Climb to the top of the Moat and enjoy spectacular views of the 6 counties of Ulster.

Carnmoney Hill
One of a chain of hills, steeped in history and folklow. Manager by the Woodland Trust, these 70 hectacres of land - grassland, wetland and woodland - are a honeypot for wildlife, including the long-eared owl, sparrowhawk and Irish hare.

Roe Valley Country Park
Beautiful riverside walks await the visitor here as well as a countryside museum. Variet of walks to suit all levels. Walks available year round.