Hunting Brook Gardens
Large garden with contemporary borders and wooded garden in mature woodland setting
Lamb Hill
Blessington
Co Wicklow
Tel: +353 (0)1 458 3972
Blessington
Co Wicklow
Tel: +353 (0)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, DecemberOpening Days:
Opening Hours: By Appointment (also general opening one weekend a month May-Sept)
Admission Charge: €6
- Appointment Only
- Admission Charge
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 bordersGroups & Tours
- Groups Accepted
- Groups Need Appointments
- Accept Only Groups
- Guided Tours
Minimum Group Size:
5Tour Days:
Tour Times
Any time by appointment (includes teas/lunches)Additional
Trails
Dublin Garden GroupFestivals
Wicklow Garden FestivalEvents
Courses - gardening, cooking, arts, crafts, open evening with wine.Directions
Hunting Brook is situated between Brittas, Co. Dublin, and Blessington, Co. Wicklow, on the N81. Take the road opposite the turn for Sallygap/Kilbride (at Tramway Antiques). Follow signs for Hunting Brook - 2nd house (wooden house) on left
