Glenarm Castle Walled Garden

Partner Garden Visit

Glenarm Castle Walled Garden
Now an RHSI Partner Garden, the four-acre Glenarm Castle Walled Garden sits within the large estate of the Earl and Countess of Antrim on the far northeast coast of our island. A visit with a gardening friend on a recent glorious day confirmed the well-held view that this is a complete jewel of a garden. Absolutely worth our three-hour drive from Dublin! The little seaside village of Glenarm nestles into the Antrim coast and is reached once off the main motorways, via quiet rural roads with breathtaking scenery. Just above the village, parking is in the castle grounds along with several good eating choices for teas or lunch. There is also a lovely welcome centre and several artisan shops to visit. Thence to the Walled Garden….

This is accessed through a small and very pretty enclosed Kitchen Garden where a select and very healthy-looking collection of vegetables are presented in raised beds surrounded by low espaliered fruit. Artichokes, cabbages, lettuces, beans, potatoes and onions mingle with tall obelisks of sweet pea whilst against a nearby whitewashed wall fig trees with nasturtiums at their feet bask in the sun.

A gate from this area magically opens through to the south facing aspect of what is known as the older, lower part of the walled garden. At this point we were met by Jordan McWhirter, head gardener, who very kindly accompanied us for most of our visit and filled us in on much of the garden’s background. Regarded as one of the finest walled gardens on the island, it dates from around 1820. A large yew circle and several mature trees date from then, but otherwise the present design and planting has been continuously evolving since only the mid-1990s.

The immediate stunning vista ahead on entering through this gate is along a grass path between double herbaceous borders leading to an arch opening into the 200yr old yew circle. On both sides a glorious jostling mix of veronicas, stachys, verbenas, phlox, penstemons, cardoons and perovskia provide a gradually fading blur of pastel shades.

Whilst along the south wall there is an extremely long glasshouse used for growing exotic soft fruits and for propagating. Further along the wall is the hot border, famed in late summer for its vibrant mix of deep colours with splashes of yellow – dahlias, alstroemerias, crocosmias, monardas, astilbes, salvias and roses all providing this rich tapestry.

A further mixed border of shrubs and herbaceous planting runs along the west facing wall. An L shaped run of pleached limes adds superb definition to this part of the garden. New exotic plantings are now being tried on the north facing wall….

The remaining upper part of the garden is divided into a series of ‘rooms’ bordered by neatly clipped high beech hedging. So easy to wander and get delightfully lost – in a room with a classical column in the centre surrounded by a series of box balls, or another with a series of small pictorial meadows in jewel- like colours each surrounding a fruit tree, or another with a beautifully crafted central wooden obelisk, or yet another with a grass mound aptly described by garden writer Jane Powers as being like a “vast grassy blancmange”. I can vouch for the tremendous view of the whole garden and magnificent surrounding parkland from the top!

And finally, a pretty double rill runs from the western, uppermost part of the garden down to a small rectangular pond with water lilies.

There is so much to see and love about this beautifully planted and superbly maintained garden. The associated cafes and small artisan shops are both welcoming and excellent, and the Antrim scenery en route is magnificent. What other reasons are needed to make a trip before summer’s end? And if a day trip sounds too much, the Glens of Antrim are as spectacular and beautiful as you’ll find anywhere in which to spend a few days exploring. You might even try staying in one of the stylish Ocean View Pods in the castle grounds!

For full information on opening times, directions etc please visit Glenarm Walled Garden on the Partner Garden section of the RHSI website.

Noreen Keane
RHSI Partner Gardens Co-ordinator