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Burtown House Gardens

Garden

Part of the pleasure at Burtown is the sense of discovery, for there are a great many features waiting to be found behind hedges and around corners.

Address:
Burtown Little
Ballytore
 Athy
Co Kildare
website Contact Burtown House Gardens
Tel: +353 59 862 3148

Please mention ireland-guide.com when enquiring.

Burtown House Gardens

Opening Months: February, April, May, June, July, August, September
Opening Days:
Opening Hours: 14 Feb-1 Mar 10am-4pm daily; 11 Apr -29 Sep, Thu-Sun & bank hols, 11am-5.30pm
Admission Charge:
  • Appointment Only
  • Admission Charge

Part of the pleasure at Burtown is the sense of discovery, for there are a great many features waiting to be found behind hedges and around corners. At their heart is a 300 year old house surrounded by the legacy of previous generations much created by Isabel Shackleton, cousin of explorer Ernest, who planted the great sweep of golden aconites beneath the trees in early spring.



Mainly the creation of artist Lesley Fennell, this garden provides inspiration for her paintings and the planting, like the herbaceous border filled with the blues and yellows of campanulas, scabious and unusual herbaceous clematis, reflects her painter’s eye.



Island beds around the lawn with mixed planting of shrubs and perennials have reminders of the great and good of the garden world: A mulberry tree, grown from its ancient parent in the Provost’s garden at Trinity College, an Oregon Maple, a seedling from the great tree in Front Square in Trinity College: as Sydney Maskell’s blue abutilon, the late Corona North’s hoheria alongside promiscuously interbreeding tree peonies and blushing old roses.



Elsewhere there is a wonderful collection of viticella clematis, a collections of old scented phlox, unusual herbaceous plants, some from the former Shackleton Garden at Beech Park. A rockery garden filled with dierama, hellebores, dwarf cyclamen, where a double flowering cherry is reflected in a pool and a contemplation garden with bronzes by sculptor Catherine Greene.



Plans for new features are ongoing : a woodland garden, once part of an old pleasure garden, with carpets of anemonies and trilliums ihas been developed on an island with interesting marginal planting on the banks of the encircling stream.



Burtown is a productive place in every sense: the late Wendy Walsh, acclaimed botanical artist, had her studio and home here, set in a crescent of borders shading from silver blue to yellow orange and including many plants which she was given to plant and later planted out in the garden.



Grandson, the photographer James Fennell, has been restoring the walled vegetable garden with organic produce destined for delicious lunches for visitors cooked by his wife Joanna (café hours as for garden), and Lesley Fennell’s own courtyard studio is open to visitors. The Quaker Village of Ballytore and the High Cross at Moone are just nearby, altogether a great place for a day out.



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

Groups & Tours

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

Tour Days:



Additional

Other Facilities

Groups by appointment, lunches and family days available by arrangement.

Burtown House Gardens - Athy County Kildare Ireland
Burtown House Gardens - Athy County Kildare Ireland
Burtown House Gardens - Athy County Kildare Ireland
Burtown House Gardens - Athy County Kildare Ireland
Burtown House Gardens - Athy County Kildare Ireland
Burtown House Gardens - Athy County Kildare Ireland
Burtown House Gardens - Athy County Kildare Ireland
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