Parks & Gardens in Donegal

The country estate garden of Glenalla is a hidden world surrounded by native woods and moorland. Established in the late 18th century with extensive landscaping by the Franklin family since 1913. Beyond the house and walled kitchen garden are the formal elements of the rockery, rose beds, arbour and stone edged lily pond. There are collections of rhododendrons together with summer and autumn flow…

Oral tradition has it that the first house was built on this site in 1711 by the Babington family. The Bartons expanded and remodelled the house in the early 1800s and the Perry\s, who moved from Bunlin, Milford in 1965, renovated and added to the buildings. The Walled Garden and mature trees date from the early Barton era. A plantation of 15 acres of broadleaf woodland was established in 2003. T…

On the slopes of Bloody Foreland, on the northwest Donegal Wild Atlantic Way, Anamcara Healing Herbs Garden is the creation of medical herbalist Columbia Hillen. Visiting this garden is like uncovering secret treasures hidden in plain sight - wild herbs growing naturally in the area along with others Columbia has planted, which have been used for centuries for medicine. Come and learn about their …

Salthill is well illustrated in “The Irish Garden” (2015) by Jane Powers with photographs by Jonathon Hession. She aptly describes the space “The 0.5 hectare enclosure has that delightful feeling of privacy and mystery that is particular to old walled gardens”. So, come and witness the “great gatherings of herbaceous plants amid mature shrubs and noteworthy trees”. Admission: €5 Adults, €2 …

The Celtic Prayer Garden is Ireland’s only such garden and is set in six acres of natural bog land, approximately 10 minutes out of the city centre of Derry. Here we invite you to step back in time to an Ireland of saints and scholars, a people who had a very strong sense of creation, a robust attitude to religious practice and who believed in a close relationship with nature. Walk back in t…