If you love grand houses and amazing gardens, you are going to LOVE Powerscourt Estate in County Wicklow.
Started Off on a Sour Note
I left Kilkenny in the morning and had decided to head to Powerscourt Estate on the way to my last B&B in Glendalough. According to Google maps, this journey was supposed to take about 2 hours. However, there was a bad accident on the M11 and they closed the entire freeway down. The road we all had to get off on was backed up for miles and miles. I’ll talk about this in my summary post but I was operating without any GPS because I didn’t pay for international cell service… So, I had to pull over and look at the paper map I had and figure out a way to get where I was going without taking the freeway.
Stressful day for sure but when I finally made it to Powerscourt, it was worth it. The gardens were recently voted No.3 in the World’s Top Ten Gardens by National Geographic. So, you know it’s good 😉
Acres of Beauty
The gardens spread out over 47 acres so you could really spend a whole day wandering around and taking time in them all. I stayed for about 3 hours and saw a good amount of the gardens. One thing to note, the house is just a big gift shop/cafe and there is nothing to really tour there. It was a surprise to me but I think the gardens are really the main attraction anyway!
When you walk out the back, you’ll head down a grand staircase which takes you to the gardens. I decided to head to the pond first. It was nice to be rewarded with nice weather since I had been stuck in the car all day!
Turning Japanese
Next were the Japanese gardens and they were just incredible. The trees were flowering and everything was so green.
I did not know what these were at first because this bush was GIANT! The biggest azaleas I’ve ever seen!
Views for Days
The path on the backside of the pond rewarded me with this view.
Turn around and you get this view…
Then I kept walking and horses were just there frolicking? Is this real life?!
Up Against the Wall
Closer to the house, there are walled and manicured gardens complete with these amazing ornate gates.
Including a wall of roses. So pretty!
I really enjoyed my time at Powerscourt and hope you get a chance to explore them on your next trip to Ireland!
Tell me more, tell me more!
Opening times: Daily: 9.30am – 5.30pm (Last entry 5pm)
Location: Enniskerry, Co. Wicklow, Ireland. (about an hour south of Dublin)
Cost: €10.00 for adults
More info: If you want more info, head to the Powerscourt Estate website here.
I hope you enjoyed Powerscourt and go see it next time you find yourself in Ireland!
12 Comments
LOVE Ireland!!!! I just visited it 4 months ago and I felt in love!! I was in Limerick city and Dublin. 🙂
March 25, 2017 at 4:54 PMI loved it too! I didn’t make it to Limerick, I’ll have to add that to my list for next time!
March 27, 2017 at 3:05 PMBeautiful photos! Ireland is the perfect place to travel solo, in my opinion. Everyone is helpful and friendly and it’s a great place to discover yourself. It’s always empowering to hear stories like this. Happy travels!
March 25, 2017 at 5:32 PMThanks so much! You’re right, I thought the solo travel was pretty easy. Everyone was very nice and I was proud of finding my way everywhere with no phone! I need to go back again and try harder to meet locals though. My introverted self has to really try hard in that regard! 🙂
March 27, 2017 at 3:06 PMThat countryside is gorgeous! 🙂 You’re convincing me to visit Ireland again!!
March 25, 2017 at 5:39 PMYou should! I feel like I could spend weeks there and not see everything I want to. I will definitely slow down next time and spend several days (instead of 1) in each area.
March 27, 2017 at 3:07 PMOh my goodness! Those gardens look absolutely lovely! I really love the pictures of flowers you took as well. I have a similar feeling with visiting Versailles–the house was too overly toursity but I could spend ages wandering around the gardens!
March 25, 2017 at 6:41 PMThanks, I took SO many flower photos! I really had to narrow it down… haha! I totally agree about Versailles too! The gardens are probably the best part. Not to say the interior is anything to shake a stick at 😉
March 27, 2017 at 3:09 PMMy goodness I could get lost in those gardens for hours! I’m in love!
April 7, 2017 at 10:44 AM[…] the extensive gardens here! If you want more information about Powerscourt, head to my post on it here. […]
May 21, 2017 at 2:20 AMI have to admit even though I’m only in England I haven’t made it across the water to Ireland but I have seen so many great blogs on Ireland that I will definitely make time to visit. Powerscourt Estate looks exactly like the type of place I would like to visit, love the Japanese garden photograph.
March 24, 2020 at 3:28 PMThank you! You should go check it out. It was so lovely. I’m sure you have LOTS of gardens you can see there in England though!
March 24, 2020 at 3:49 PM