A Visit to Mount Congreve, co. Waterford

say ‘squeeze!’
Mount Congreve, just 20 minutes from Waterford City, is an ideal place for a day trip with kids of all ages, just bring a picnic (or visit the café instead), some comfy walking shoes and your camera – as it’s so beautiful!
The property is named after John Congreve who employed local architect John Roberts to build his home in 1760. Roberts was responsible for designing and building most of the public buildings in nearby Waterford in the 18th century – including both of the cathedrals.
The house is not open to the public but the gardens are well known for being “one of the great gardens of the world”.
They are open from Thursdays to Sundays and bank holiday Mondays from 11am to 5:30pm
The Gardens:
I’m just like a child, if I’m annoying you the best thing is just to kick me out into the garden because it doesn’t take me long to be distracted and cheer up. I was a little bit annoyed when we arrived at Mount Congreve because we got lost and were late meeting our friends (note, use Google maps) but it only took a few seconds for me to cheer up – just long enough to walk through the first arch way to see this:

first floral border

entrance to walled garden
We walked along an exquisite floral bordered path iand entered the Walled Garden. The garden rises on tiers and houses an enormous Georgian glass house which runs along the length. A pond lies in the lowest tier and lawns stretch up the tiers.

hold hands please!

catch me!

top end of the walled garden
From the Walled Garden going anti-clockwise (because we didn’t read our map) we entered the Riverwalk.

off we go

caved tree trunk bench

up the hill
When meandering through this landscape we were offered a variety of vistas, open spaces, covered woodland places and quiet lawns. At every turn we discovered another shade of pink in the vast array of blossomed shrubbery.

pink hedgerows

pink glades

so many pink shades!

mysterious paths

big lawns
The kids enjoyed the variety of landscapes too.

blossom collector

The higher the better!
Features along the route included the diverse and unusual charms of an Oriental pagoda, a waterfall, a dell and a Grecian temple.

oriental surprise

a litle bit of Grecian culture too!
As it is such a huge place, our group drifted apart and we all ended up taking slightly different routes. However, we managed to locate one another, keep our eyes on various disappearing children and meet up at the house at the end.

more catching up to do

back at the main house
Further Information:
The property also houses a café which was very busy – it’s obviously popular – however, we didn’t go in as our group was too big and the ice-cream counter beckoned!
There is a nursery at the entrance beside the carpark if you’d like to bring home some of the garden loveliness with you.
Our visit lasted four hours which included time for a picnic, the outer circular walk, with nine young children (ranging in age from 2 to 14), and a congratulatory visit to the ice-cream counter at the end. In spite of being there for four hours, we didn’t get to explore everywhere.
An added surprise was seeing the little Suir Valley Train come tooting past us along the banks of the river below. If you have enough time in your day, it would be ideal to factor in a visit to both the gardens and the train.
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That sounds like a great place to visit, and the gardens look amazing from your pictures. I recently visited County Waterford with BattleKid but didn’t know about Mount Congreve or I would have tried to fit it in. Maybe next time! #wanderlustkids
That’s a pity, there is so much to see in Ireland though isn’t there! We also love the Mahon Falls in Waterford, visited there this past week. Hopefully you’ll be back! xx
This sounds like such a beautiful and peaceful place to visit! #Wanderlustkids
Yes it really is Ruth, I’d love to go back again when it warms up a little bit.
What a gem of a place! There are several such gardens in Wicklow where I live, and I’m always surprised at how much we enjoy exploring them as a family.
#WanderlustKids
There really are, I’m looking forward to the Easter holidays as we plan to make loads of day trips to more beautiful places. We’re hoping to see the Mahon falls and Altamont amongst others.
Such beautiful photos of a wonderful spot. Thank you for sharing. I think I’d be much as you. I love gardening and a visit like this always gets those creative juices flowing. And how fun to share it with family and friends!
It’s so true, we really need to reconnect with what we love in order to connect with ourselves! Problem is I struggled to fall asleep last night with all the creative juice flowing around inside my head!!