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Hunting Brook Gardens

Garden

Large garden with contemporary borders and wooded garden in mature woodland setting

Address:

Lamb Hill
Blessington
Co Wicklow

About Blessington

Tel: +353 1 458 3972

Please mention ireland-guide.com when enquiring.

Hunting Brook Gardens

Opening Months: January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December
Opening Days:
Opening Hours: By Appointment (also general opening one weekend a month May-Sept)
Admission Charge: €6

Appointment Only
Admission Charge

Georgina Campbell

One of the youngest open gardens, Hunting Brook has all the excitement of a fresh approach and new ideas. But the bones of the place are very old indeed - behind the house there is a ring fort dating back to the 7th century, and the namesake brook is part of a romantic landscaped demesne created in the 1830s.

Jimi Blake, former head gardener at Airfield, began gardening here in 2001, amid 15 acres of woods with beech, oak and larch. The area around his wooden house is now planted in a vibrant fusion of tropical and prairie style where tender plants like aloes and agaves rub shoulders with stately grasses like the rice paper grass Tetrapanx papyriferus and giant eryngiums like E pandanifolium. “I probably shouldn’t be growing plants like this at 900 feet,” says Jimi. So far so good though, and he is building up a national collection of miscanthus grasses amid particularly good late borders, and experimenting with plants propagated from species brought back from plant hunting expeditions to China, like Aralia echinotaulis.

A woodland garden is being developed near the ring fort with all manner of bulbs including trilliums ‘Ladybird’ and ‘Empresss’, shade loving plants like anemones and meconopsis, and rhizomes with exciting berries like the toad lilies and Diphyellia cymosa with vivid turquoise fruit. In between the two areas, acers and rhododendrons are being planted. At present five acres are open and the garden is still in the early stages of development, but it is an exciting place to see unusual plants and new planting styles - and Jimi runs excellent weekends courses.

* See Nearby, June Blake’s Garden and Nursery

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

Gardens Strengths

20 acres including woodland and contemporary borders

Groups & Tours

Groups Accepted
Groups Need Appointments
Accept Only Groups
Guided Tours

Minimum Group Size:

Tour Days:

Tour Times

Any time by appointment (includes teas/lunches)

Additional

Trails

Dublin Garden Group

Festivals

Wicklow Garden Festival

Events

Courses - gardening, cooking, arts, crafts, open evening with wine.

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Apps and Books

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Georgina Campbell's Ireland - The Best of the Best

A selective companion guide to our famous broad-based online collection, the ‘glovebox bib ...
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From Tide to Table by Georgina Campbell

Paperback edition of From Tide to Table - Everything You Ever Wanted To Know About Buying, Prep ...
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Home > Hunting Brook Gardens

Choose your language:

- ireland -

Hunting Brook Gardens

Garden

Large garden with contemporary borders and wooded garden in mature woodland setting

Please mention ireland-guide.com when enquiring.