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Daily all year except December 25 & 26th
Easy access to Gardens and Avoca Cafe
Guided tours organized but they must be booked in advance. A guided tour takes approx 90 minutes
Spring Summer Autumn
Bulbs in meadows, rhododendrons, azaleas, camellias & magnolias. Eucalyptus, Nothofagus, Oaks and Ecryphia showing autumn colours More than 24 of the Champion trees of The British Isles and Ireland
Adult E7.50, Child E3.50; Over 60s & Students over 16 yrs E6.50
Group Rates for 20 or more, Adults E6.50, OAPs & Students E5.50
Guided Tours (E55 extra) must be booked well in advance.
Special evening events. Craft Courtyard. Guide dogs permitted. Avoca Cafe Members of Houses Castles and Gardens of Ireland, Dublin Garden Group and Wicklow Gardens Festival, Wicklow & Dublin Tour Route
The gardens harbour approx. 5000 different species of plants, shrubs and trees.
Nothofagus and Eucryphia
Grand Hotel, Wicklow Hunter's Hotel & Restaurant was a coaching Inn
Chester Beatty's in Ashford
Avoca Handweavers, Avoca, Co. Wicklow The oldest working mill in Ireland Wicklow
Mount Usher is a privately owned garden of some 20 acres, standing in the sheltered valley of the Vartry river as it flows down from the Devil's Glen, 27 miles south of Dublin and 2 miles from the sea. The house, around which the garden was founded, was attached to a water mill, which used the power of the Killiskey river (a tributary of the Vartry) to turn its wheel. Spectacular pinus montezumae, bluebells, rhododendrons and plants and shrubs that benefit from the particular climate that Mount Usher enjoys, thrive here but not elsewhere in the British Isles. A grove of eucalyptus, a kiwi-fruit vine and a huge Eucryphia make every visit memorable. It boasts the tallest Cornus capitata (18m) in the British Isles and many other record trees.
The garden dates back to approximately 1860. The design was inspired by William Robinson. Five generations of the Walpole family were passionate garden-lovers and the gardens were developed by one or other members of each generation. They were fortunate to have the advice of several great horticulturalists such as Sir Frederick Moore, Sir John Ross of Bladensburg, E. A. Bowles, Augustine Henry and others. The ambition of the present owner is to keep Mount Usher, if possible, as beautiful and interesting as it was under the stewardship of previous owners.
Today the gardens are owned by Konrad Jay, but managed by The Avoca Group who have added immensely to this world famous 'Robinsonian Jewel'.