Annes Grove Garden

Opening Months: March, April, May, June, July, August, September
Opening Days: Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday
Opening Hours: Mon-Sat, 10am-5pm; Sun, 1-6pm.
Admission Charge: Adults €6; OAPs & students €4; children 5-15 €2 (discount for pre-booked adult groups).

• Appointment Only
• Admission Charge

Annes Grove has many blessings, among them a long history in which generations of the Annesley family have enhanced the gardens plus a happy freak of nature which offers both lime and acid conditions in the sublime location by the River Awbeg.

The earliest element within 30 acres of ‘pleasure grounds’ is the walled garden, originally laid out in the 18th century with a curious viewing ‘mount’ typical of the period where a rustic summer house looks down on aptly named ribbon beds of clipped box. Later additions include a double herbaceous border planted with the soft shades of thalictrum, phlox and stachys, pergola walks and a lushly planted pond area within a framework of yew and beech hedges guarded by giant magnolias and eucryphias.

The ‘Ornamental Glen’, where the Awbeg flows through a limestone fault valley was first enhanced in the 1770s in the romantic manner. Rhododendrons were added to romance two generations ago when RA Grove Annesley, a subscriber to the then tremendously fashionable plant hunting expeditions planted the glen in the Robinsonian manner taking advantage of the pockets of neutral and acid soil.

Some of the rhododendrons grown from seeds collected by Frank Kingdon Ward, on his expeditions to Burma, the Yunan and Tibet, are among earliest introductions to Ireland, (R. wardiiis named for him.) Other spectacular flowering shrubs dating from this period include Cornus cousa, embothrium, eucryphia and hoheria.

There’s a complete change of mood and vegetation in the luxuriant riverside garden amid a jungle of bamboos, gunnera, skunk cabbage and Himalayan primulas. Above this sub tropical area, limestone cliffs provide Mediterranean conditions and paths lead next to the multicoloured display around the ‘Hydrangea Rock.’

Garden history continues to unfold, a new fernery is being created at the end of the woodland walk with over 300 different varieties of ferns, including the tree fern Dicksonia antartica. The 18th century Pen Pond beyond the riverside garden, once used for luring and trapping duck for the table, is being restored and there is now a nursery in the walled garden (Annes Grove Plants), specialising in herbaceous plants, including stock propagated from the garden.
 

Best time of year to visit: April, May, June

Gardens Strengths

Naturalistic planting and romantic setting in woodland, on cliffs and by river banks.

Rare Plants worth mentioning

Rare rhodendrons. Azara intermedia, Eucryphia Moorei, juniperus recurva Coxii Castlewellan

Groups & Tours

• Groups Accepted
• Groups Need Appointments
• Accept Only Groups
• Guided Tours

Minimum Group Size:

1

Tour Days:

Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday

Tour Times

Opening hours, other times by arrangement (discount for groups 20+)

Additional

Trails

None

Festivals

None

Events

None

Other Facilities

WCs, picnic area

Miscellaneous

Gardens were no. 4 in Daily Telegraph's 50 Best Gardens 2007 ; Dogs welcome on lead only