A living 400-year-old estate with Ireland's finest surviving 17th-century formal gardens, just 30 minutes from Dublin — still run by the family who settled here in 1618.
Stroll the magnificent pattes d'oie ('goose feet') of the Angles — beguiling angled walks framed by towering beech, hornbeam and lime hedges. Don't miss the Beech Circle with its 60-ft round pond and French fountain, the Long Ponds, and the Sylvan Theatre still used for outdoor performances. The gardens were laid out in the 1680s by a disciple of Versailles designer André Le Nôtre.
Access the main formal rooms of this Elizabethan-Revival mansion on an illuminating guided tour. Tours run Tuesday–Sunday at 12:00, 13:30 and 15:00 during the garden open season (April–October). Spaces are first-come, first-served — book at the Entrance Shop on arrival.
Housed in a charming 19th-century ornamental octagonal dairy with stained glass and stone floors, the Tea Room serves Brabazon Blend coffee, cakes, scones, pastries and light lunches — many made with produce from the Walled Garden. Outdoor seating overlooks the parterre.
The productive Walled Garden supplies the estate kitchens and features a restored Victorian glasshouse (pit house). Kids will love the Faerie Woodland Village and the Giant Sandpit in the Apple Orchard. The cutting garden produces chemical-free blooms for the estate floristry studio.
The estate's renovated 19th-century dairy yard is a food destination: the award-winning Grain Store restaurant (Fri–Sun lunch, farm-to-table), the Pizza Shed (Wed–Sun, sourdough wood-fired pizzas with estate toppings), and the Farm Shop & Café (open daily) for coffee, pastries, home-reared meat, and Irish crafts.
Climb the stone steps to The Rock, a dramatic outcrop originally planted with alpines, for panoramic views. Behind it, Rock Wood offers winding paths among shade-loving plants — a quieter corner of the estate that Lady Ardee calls 'the best place to pick up acorns, beech seeds, chestnuts and pine cones.'
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