Mount Stewart, County Down

On the west side of the house the Sunken Garden has been laid out based on a plan sent to Lady Londonderry by Gertrude Jekyll in 1920. It is surrounded on three sides by a pergola with roses, vine, clematis species and the rare Billardiera longiflora, with its blue autumnal berries. Beds flanking a central lawn, delimited with scalloped hedges of sweet bay, have brilliant orange azaleas in spring and a rich mixture of herbaceous plants in summer. Among the surviving early plants of this garden is an unusual Hakea lissosperma whose acicular leaves and form match the Erica arborea.

The paved Shamrock Garden immediately to the west is enclosed by a high hedge of Cupressus macrocarpa surmounted by scenes of a hunt taken from Queen Mary's Psalter in the British Library. More topiary here includes shapes of an Irish harp and a bear formed of yew and a fine Acer palmatum 'Senkaki' positioned at a focal point. The charm of this garden is somewhat spoiled by a vulgar bed shaped as the Red Hand of Ulster.

In the adjacent Memorial Glade planted in 1960 an avenue of Embothrium coccineum stretches out; a much-used plant at Mount Stewart. The path northwards to the lake brings the visitor past a number of pittosporum varieties, another speciality of this garden, notably a specimen of P. bicolor. Along the west side of the lake are vigorous growths of Weinmannia trichosperma from Chile and nearby is an attractively barked Betula albo-sinensis septentrionalis from China. The lake, originally dug in 1840, was landscaped by Lady Londonderry - following Jekyll's advice its margins were planted with silver-stemmed birches. For autumn colour she added masses of maples and the attractive Cercidiphyllum japonicum, while groups of Salix alba 'Sericea' and 'Vitellina' provide bright colour in winter.

On the hill north of the lake lies 'Tir nan Og' - the private burial ground of the Stewart family. The slopes around this hill contain many rare and tender plants, including a number of Callitris oblonga, two fine specimens of the flamboyant Metrosideros lucida, a tall Myrtus obcordata, a fine Cupressus cashmeriana, and a very rare Malus kansuensis, probably one of the few Wilson-collected plants at Mount Stewart. The route back to the house along the Jubilee Avenue with its statue of a white stag and down the Ladies Walk brings the visitor past many attractive rhododendrons flour ishing in the shadow of the fir Pseudotsuga menziesii. Before leaving, visitors should walk down to the Temple of the Winds (circa 1785, architect James Stuart), a private dining-house magnificently sited overlooking Strangford Lough - Ulster's finest garden building.

Located 5 miles south east of Newtownards at Greyabbey on the Portaferry Road (A20). NGR: J 552698.
Open daily, April to August. September and October: weekends only.
House open April to October.
Refreshments open as house. Gift shop. Toilet facilities. Partly suitable for wheelchairs. Dogs on lead.
Admission charged (entrance to house extra).

From the Appletree Press title: Irish Gardens.