Williamstown Garden

Opening Months: May, June, July
Opening Days:
Opening Hours: Appointment only for groups of 15+ - Late May - early July
Admission Charge: €10

• Appointment Only
• Admission Charge

If ever there is a place with an enchanted fairytale atmosphere it is the original 18th century beech walk at Williamstown. Seen through its twilit aisle of contorted branches a path, bordered with clouds of blue nepeta and leading to a blaze of scarlet plants, appears like a brilliant vision. This is the heart the old walled garden adjoining a Palladian house attributed to Nathaniel Clements, dating to 1760 and set in a 700 acre estate. Set within the old framework and ancient trees the garden was restored in 2000, its walls repaired, room like compartments created and borders reinstated.

The entrance to the garden leads through a charming 18th century potting yard to a garden of meditation laid out with a ‘Path of Life’. With displays of hellebores, snowdrops, ivies and ferns, the play of sunlight through trees and the burble of a water tree fountain it’s a place to soothe the senses. The double herbaceous border, which forms the axis of the garden, looks for all the world like an Edwardian watercolour. One of Gertrude Jekyll’s favourite palettes, blues, white, silver and soft yellows - predominate with clumps of lemon Primula florindae, Anthemis tinctoria, krigishoma, agapanthus, tradescantia and tree paeonies.

There is a vista to a sundial which marks one of the characteristic changes of mood, in one direction there is the gothic gloom of the beech tunnel, in the other is a bee border of cat mint and pink hardy geraniums. Beyond the sundial the double border continues in still paler shades to two clumps of gunnera marking the entrance to a hidden green area. Here extraordinary beech arches, fused 200 years ago, appear like Tolkeinesque monsters.

Other treats include an exquisite temple, its rounded Palladian arches echoed by the patterns of two meticulous box parterres each containing 1,000 plants, hot borders, a woodland spring garden, a model potager with cardoons, sunflowers fruit and vegetables with onions planted around circles of carrots to confuse the carrot fly. And, in a former deer park, grass paths lead among contented cattle through a young arboretum to inviting seats.
 

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

Groups & Tours

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

Tour Days:

Tour Times

Appointment only for groups of 15+ - Late May - early July

Additional