Hunting Brook Gardens

Opening Months: January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December
Opening Days:
Opening Hours: By Appointment (also general opening one weekend a month May-Sept)
Admission Charge: €6

• Appointment Only
• Admission Charge

One of the youngest open gardens, Hunting Brook has all the excitement of a fresh approach and new ideas. But the bones of the place are very old indeed - behind the house there is a ring fort dating back to the 7th century, and the namesake brook is part of a romantic landscaped demesne created in the 1830s.

Jimi Blake, former head gardener at Airfield, began gardening here in 2001, amid 15 acres of woods with beech, oak and larch. The area around his wooden house is now planted in a vibrant fusion of tropical and prairie style where tender plants like aloes and agaves rub shoulders with stately grasses like the rice paper grass Tetrapanx papyriferus and giant eryngiums like E pandanifolium. “I probably shouldn’t be growing plants like this at 900 feet,” says Jimi. So far so good though, and he is building up a national collection of miscanthus grasses amid particularly good late borders, and experimenting with plants propagated from species brought back from plant hunting expeditions to China, like Aralia echinotaulis.

A woodland garden is being developed near the ring fort with all manner of bulbs including trilliums ‘Ladybird’ and ‘Empresss’, shade loving plants like anemones and meconopsis, and rhizomes with exciting berries like the toad lilies and Diphyellia cymosa with vivid turquoise fruit. In between the two areas, acers and rhododendrons are being planted. At present five acres are open and the garden is still in the early stages of development, but it is an exciting place to see unusual plants and new planting styles - and Jimi runs excellent weekends courses.

* Nearby, June Blake’s Garden and Nursery is a plantaholic’s dream and the fact that it is just minutes away from her brother Jimi’s garden at Hunting Brook creates a double attraction. June’s half acre of young garden, set out around winding bark paths, mature beech trees and the terrible temptation of plants for sale, leads to many encounters with new and exciting plants especially perennials, shade loving plants and ornamental grasses. Many are propagated from seed from plant hunting expeditions and exchanges and June is on hand to tell you their stories and their habits. You won’t go home empty handed. [Tel 01 458 2500. Open 7 Mar-30 Sep, 12-5.30; closed Sun. Groups by appointment
only.Wheelchair accessible.]


Best time of year to visit: May, June, July, August, September, October

Gardens Strengths

20 acres including woodland and contemporary borders

Groups & Tours

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

Minimum Group Size:

5

Tour Days:

Tour Times

Any time by appointment (includes teas/lunches)

Additional

Trails

No

Festivals

None

Events

Courses - gardening, cooking, arts, crafts, open evening with wine.