Mount Stewart Gardens
Mount Stewart on the shores of Strangford Lough in County Down is one of the finest gardens in Ireland and one of the most remarkable National Trust garden properties in the British Isles, a garden of approximately 30 acres created from 1921 onward by Edith, Marchioness of Londonderry. The mild Strangford Lough microclimate allows cultivation of tender plants from the Southern Hemisphere and the Mediterranean impossible in most of Northern Ireland.
The formal gardens include the Spanish Garden, the Italian Garden, the Sunken Garden, the Mairi Garden and the Shamrock Garden, each with distinct character and planting reflecting the warmth and ambition of their creator's horticultural vision. The mildness of the microclimate creates the diversity of plant material that gives the garden its remarkable variety.
The woodland walks around the lake provide a more naturalistic complement to the formal gardens, the mature trees and the lakeside setting of Strangford Lough creating a landscape of considerable natural quality. The combination of the formal and informal gardens with the extraordinary lough setting makes Mount Stewart one of the most rewarding garden visits in Ulster.