Irish gardens, interwoven with Ireland's manor houses, historic castles and ancient ruins, form pages in a garden history book. Irish gardens may derive from English and French styles, but they are distinctive, and often idiosyncratic.
An association of owners and operators of great Irish houses and gardens supports The Irish Houses, Castles, and Gardens website. This site assembles information and provides:
The map, probably my favorite part of this whole website, shows:
It is also possible to zoom in and see an enlargement of the Dublin area on this map. When the visitor passes the computer mouse over a location, a brief description and synopsis of the location appears.
Photographs at Irish Houses, Castles, and Gardens are exceptionally clear, scenic and picturesque. Photographs of Ardgillan Castle and Victorian Gardens (Balbriggan, Co. Dublin)
and Killruddery House and Gardens (Bray, Co. Wicklow) are two of my favorites. Property descriptions follow the outline used by the website, and are clear, concise and complete.
Visiting this website will not particularly help with ideas for residential landscaping, but will provide readers with a convenient and educational virtual trip to the Emerald Isle. They will:
Some additional and complementary sites about Irish gardens are: