Following a €7 million redevelopment, the gardens of historic Mount Congreve House, in Kilmeaden, County Waterford, have reopened to visitors.
The gardens are made up of 70 acres of intensively planted woodland, a four-acre walled garden and 16km of walkways. Planted on a slight incline overlooking the River Suir, they feature thousands of different trees, plants and shrubs.
The redevelopment works have resulted in a re-invigoration of the gardens taking the experience to the next level. Visitors can now explore three different walking routes peppered with creative interpretation and play features that tell the story of Mount Congreve and its botanic collection.
Exploration of the gardens begins in the eighteenth-century country house where visitors can enjoy an immersive, multi-lingual, audio-visual exhibition of the garden and history of the Congreve family.
From the foyer’s double doorway, visitors can catch a glimpse of the very rare ‘Chinese Room’, which features wallpaper, painted by hand in or near the Chinese port of Canton/Guangzhou, probably in the 1790s. It is said to be the only existing wallpaper of its kind in the world.