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Mount Stewart, Co. Down, Northern Ireland.
Mount Stewart, nominated a World Heritage Site, was built in 1803 by the 1st Marques of Londonderry, Castlereagh's father. It is a beautiful old house with formal gardens and the large grounds, including a man-made lake dug in 1840, and beautifully planted. In springtime there is a great profusion of colour from the Azaleas, Rhododendrons and bluebells.
The Gardens where begun in 1921 by Edith Vane-Temple-Stewart, Lady Londonderry (1869-1959). The formal gardens surrounding the house include the Sunk Garden, designed by Gertrude Jekyll, the Italian garden, based on a parterre at Dunrobin Castle, the Maiori Garden, which is a blue and white creation and the Dodo Terrace, whose statuary of creatures represent family friends and political figures who belonged to the Ark Club during World War I. The Arches of Monterey cypress in the Spanish garden and the large topiary Irish Harp in the Shamrock garden are arguably the most instantly recognisable horticultural features of Mount Stewarts formal gardens.
Edith, Lady Londonderry, died in 1959, having given the gardens (in 1955) to the National Trust, which has continued to maintain them. In 1976 the house and much of its furnishings was also acquired by the Trust.
Further information is available at :
Getting there? Map
Mount Stewart Portaferry Road, Newtownards, Co. Down
15ml SE of Belfast on Newtownards-Portaferry road, A20, 5ml SE of Newtownards
Formal Gardens, Mount Stewart, Co. Down
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Mount Stewart, Co. Down
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