Dublin & the Gardens of Ireland

Day 1: Arrival in Dublin

Welcome to the Emerald Isle. Everyone knows about the leprechauns, the Guinness, the faeries, and the foot-tapping folk music, but you’re here for something a bit more niche, a bit more under-the-radar: Ireland’s gardening heritage. And it’s just as rich and enthralling as any fiddle-playing pub band – we promise you that!

Arrival should be a cinch. Touchdown at the airport in Dublin and head to the hotel, which is within walking distance of both terminals. (Psst – there’s also a free shuttle service if you prefer!). Rest up after check in; your green-fingered adventures begin in earnest tomorrow.

Accommodation: Clayton Dublin Airport Hotel (or similar)
Included: Dinner

Day 2: National Botanic Gardens of Ireland and Mount Usher Gardens

Today is garden day number-one. Woo! The plan? To see two very, very different gardens, each showcasing its own school of Irish horticulture. The morning is a chance for the establishment to flex its muscles. Head to the National Botanic Gardens of Ireland, pretty much ground zero for gardening aficionados on this island. You’ll see why as you navigate the huge Victorian glasshouses and the sprawling living collections that include everything from native Irish wildflowers to endangered exotic specimens – they don’t call it a Noah’s Ark of planting for nothing!

Bid a fond farewell to Dublin later on, as you cruise south into the lush landscapes of County Wicklow. There, the Mount Usher Gardens are a moment of order within the rolling greenery of the Wicklow Mountains foothills. But not too ordered. You’re about to encounter the quintessential Robinsonian garden. The overarching idea? Plants where plants like to be, left to spread, to occupy their space in natural ways. Get lost in the meadow paths between beds of ferns and hostas. Walk the arboretums of azaleas and Mexican blue pines. It’s wild, yet comforting; loose yet strangely curated.

Accommodation: Summerhill House Hotel (or similar)
Included: Breakfast, Lunch, & Dinner

Day 3: Powerscourt Estate, Knockrose & Corke Lodge

Surprise! It’s been hidden from view all night long, but just one hillside over from your hotel, the great Powerscourt Estate sprawls out in all its glory beneath the Wicklow Mountains. It was founded as a castle in the Middle Ages, and transformed into the ostentatious manor seen today in the 1700s, which is also when the first gardens were laid out. There are now 47 whole acres of green spaces to get through, oscillating from hidden terraces shrouded by pine forests to perfectly manicured lawns gilded with ornamental beds. Expect a real collision of landscape design – Italianate grandeur at one corner, meditative Japanese maple groves at another.

Tummies are likely to be rumbling by this point. The good news is that your guide knows a local Irish country pub that’s neatly located on the way to the next garden. Fuel up, Guinness down (if you fancy), and then head on to Knockrose, a garden that looks lifted straight out of the pages of an Irish fairy tale. Get your cottage garden 101 here as you bathe in a symphony of summer flower planting. Watch the philadelphus clamber above the Chilean lantern bushes; the clematises curl around the blackberry bushes. Bliss.

The group’s final stop of the day comes in the form of Corke Lodge. It’s a private garden but they’ll let Carex green fingers in. Wonder at the palettes of emerald here – zingy cabbage palms, moss-green ferns, vibrant bay and privet. Between them are velveteen lawns and structured tree planting sections that ooze craftsmanship and clever design.

Accommodation: Summerhill House Hotel (or similar)
Included: Breakfast, Lunch, & Dinner

Day 4: Russborough House, Hunting Brook & Tinode

You check off yet another majestic Irish manor this morning. Enter Russborough House, a Palladian masterpiece that lords over its lands on the far side of the Wicklow Mountains. You’ll venture through each layer of this estate, going from the formal gardens that halo the house proper out to the wilder reaches, the meadows, the bluebell-blanketed woods and hilltops that feather into the Russborough parklands far beyond.

Tinode and Hunting Brook are next. These two gardens are the work of siblings June and Jimi Blake, who have been planting, replanting, experimenting, and designing here since 2001. At Tinode, notice the drystone wall topped with dancing gigantea grasses. See the exposed cobblestones, segments of a centuries-old roadway that lay beneath the soil. The planting is the key component, though, because it draws you in, deeper, ever deeper, into pockets of beds rich in dahlias and crocuses, beset by bamboo thickets and high grasses. At Hunting Brook, keep an eye out for some of the exotic plants Jimi has collected from across the globe.

Accommodation: Summerhill House Hotel (or similar)
Included: Breakfast, Lunch, & Dinner

Day 5: Airfield Gardens

Day 5 starts with a nice surprise: a garden you didn’t expect and probably haven’t heard of. We won’t spill too many proverbial beans, but suffice to say you’ll be taken around in the capable – if muddy – hands of the head gardener!

Then it’s back into the urban sprawl of Dublin. Say hello to your old friend, the city, as you make for Airfield, an oasis of green that’s half working farm, half design garden. Little more than a barrier of hazel wicker fences and shrubs cut Airfield off from the sidewalks of southern Dublin, but straight away you’re lost in a sea of seasonal wildflowers, ornamental carrots, and veg beds, a backing track of cooing chickens and guffawing goats playing behind.

There’s time to have lunch at your own pace after that, but don’t fill up too much. Tonight, your Carex crew has a rite of passage that every visitor to the Emerald Isle must perform: a hooley show of fiddle dancing and real Irish food at, of course, the pub. Where else?

Accommodation: Summerhill House Hotel (or similar)
Included: Breakfast, Dinner

Day 6: Glendalough & Patthana Garden

After exploring at least two gardens every day for five days, we think it’s time you did something a bit different. The good news is that Ireland really knows how to deliver on that count. As if by magic, it offers up one of the earliest ecclesiastical centers of Northern Europe at Glendalough. Spend the morning here touring the lichen-spotted churches, learning about raids by the Vikings, and seeing the cave where St Kevin himself is thought to have lived, complete with his stone-carved bed.

After your foray into the annals of Irish Christianity, return to the horticultural fold with a real gardener’s garden. At Patthana you’ll see the living, blooming work of TJ Maher, a renowned planter who’s known for his bold designs. From courtyard to pond, you’ll move through beds of flowers you probably never expected to see in Ireland, enjoying planting techniques that are at once subtle and striking.

By evening, you find yourself back in the buzz of Dublin’s downtown. Dinner is wherever you choose, but remember that the Irish capital is famed for its hearty pub grub!

Accommodation: Iveagh Garden Hotel (or similar)
Included: Breakfast, Lunch, Afternoon tea

Day 7: Ardan, with Dublin

It might be your last full day in Ireland, but this green, green land still has gardens to show off. So, fend off the sadness for a bit longer and get over to Ardan, a truly unique garden that sits on a plinth above the UNESCO-attested biosphere of Dublin Bay. It’s hard to believe, but the whole thing was magicked out of a rough farm field only 23 years ago. Today, it’s a whiff of beauty amid the heaths, where you’ll go from curated, mud-scented bogs, through to curious rock gardens fashioned from the natural stone of the Howth Peninsula.

And, then, just like that, the gardens are done and dusted. There’s still time to explore Dublin, though. You might want to pre-book to get a glimpse of the fabled Book of Kells (it’s a 1,200-year-old manuscript that’s considered Ireland’s national treasure). Or you could just settle in with a stout and get your last fix of Irish hospitality.

The whole Carex crew will gather for a final meal at the oldest pub in Dublin later on. It’s been around since the year 1198, and now it’s where you’ll sum up this trip of grand Georgian manor gardens and flower-filled cottage gardens with your new plant-loving travel companions.

Accommodation: Clayton Dublin Airport Hotel (or similar)
Included: Breakfast, Dinner

Day 8: Farewell

Slán! It’s time to bid goodbye to Ireland, to its green spaces, to its moody mountains, and to the people you’ve met along the way. Enjoy one final breakfast together before heading to the airport, wondering, as you check your bags and board your flight, where’s next on your garden-travel bucket list…

Included: Breakfast