Powerscourt Gardens

The gardens at Powerscourt were laid out over roughly a century and a half below an eighteenth century house near Enniskerry, and their organising idea is a single axis: terraces stepping down from the house to a round lake with a Triton fountain, then a line of view carried on to the Great Sugar Loaf mountain beyond. Around that formal spine sit a walled garden, long herbaceous borders, a Japanese garden built on reclaimed bog in 1908, a grotto of fossilised moss and a small pet cemetery. The house behind burned in 1974 and was only partly rebuilt; today it holds shops and cafes rather than rooms to tour.

What you actually see

• The Italianate terraces - the stepped descent from the house to the lake.
• Triton Lake - the round pool and fountain on the main axis.
• The Japanese garden - built on drained bog in 1908, with maples and a red bridge.
• The walled garden - herbaceous borders and glasshouses behind old brick.

When to go

May and June for the borders and the rhododendrons, October for the maples in the Japanese garden. The gardens open all year and are least crowded on weekday mornings. Two hours covers the main circuit at a normal pace. Powerscourt Waterfall is a separate site a few kilometres away, with its own ticket and opening hours.

Honest expectations

It is expensive, especially for a family, and the waterfall costs again on top. The house is essentially a retail floor, which surprises people expecting a stately home tour. Paths are gravel and the terraces are a real descent and climb. Weekends and coach traffic crowd the terrace view, and Wicklow rain can reduce the visit to walks between shelters.

Nearby

Enniskerry village is next door; Powerscourt Waterfall and the Sugar Loaf are close.