This unusual, one-off tour includes great houses, castles and gardens in Northern Ireland, staying at the historic 5* Slieve Donard Hotel. Many visits are private and some are only by special permission to these landed estates in County Down.
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Suggested flight (not included in the cost of the tour) British Airways BA 1412 departing London Heathrow at 11.20 hrs arriving Belfast George Best City Airport at 12.45 hrs. Lunch under your own arrangements (please buy or bring a sandwich before departure from London as complementary food is no longer served on the flight).
On arrival drive to Seaforde House and Gardens. The completely stunning and important gardens at Seaforde are situated around the old walled garden dating from the early 18th century. The hidden, micro-climate gardens boast Ireland’s oldest living maze and support a renowned collection of plants, many semi-tender and collected from distant corners of the world thanks to the travels of the keen plantsman Patrick Forde. These amazing, luxuriant gardens encompass a remarkable arboretum containing champion trees with many rare species. The house at Seaforde was built in the Greek Revival style about 1816 and remains mostly, uniquely, unchanged since that date. Lady Anthea Forde guards her privacy but on rare occasions allows small groups to visit the house. Private tea here with Lady Anthea in the drawing room with wonderful views over the lake.
Drive 30 mins to the 5* Slieve Donard Hotel where 4 nights are spent. This imposing Victorian hotel, looking on to the legendary Mountains of Mourne, stands among six acres of immaculate private grounds. The extremely popular and comfortable hotel, just 30 miles south of Belfast, has been recently fully refurbished to the tune of £16 million. The hotel boasts one of Europe’s finest resort Spas offering luxurious treatments with a fabulous large, indoor swimming pool. A golden strand of beach borders the hotel on one side while the famous Royal County Down Golf Course frames the other.
Dinner at the hotel.
Full day excursion to Mount Stewart House and Gardens. Mount Stewart needs no introduction as one of the major mature gardens in the British Isles. Laid out in the 1930s, it was the sole imaginative creation of Edith, Marchioness of Londonderry. Her granddaughter, Lady Rose Lauritzen, continues to keep a watchful eye on her grandmother’s legacy and cherishes the upkeep of these profuse gardens. Also, by special arrangement, see Athenian Stuart’s Temple of Winds (1728), described as the finest Neo Classical folly in all of Northern Ireland, overlooking the tidal Strangford Lough.
Mount Stewart, dating from 1839, has benefitted from a very successful £10 million restoration programme by the National Trust recently. The original part of the mansion, dating from George III, is the present repository of all the Vane-Tempest-Stewart family’s gems assembled after the sales of Londonderry House (in Park Lane, London), Seaham Hall and Wynyard Park (in county Durham). The contents have been greatly enriched with the loan of Old Master paintings (Stubbs, Lawrence and de Laszlo in particular), a colossal display of dazzling family silver and superb furniture in wonderful condition belonging to the present Marquess of Londonderry. Peter Lauritzen, the eminent writer/historian/lecturer and husband of Lady Rose will guide the group seeing its special and intact collection of family treasures.
Drinks in the private drawing followed by private lunch in the dining room with the Lady Rose and Peter Lauritzen.
Return to the hotel and dinner under own arrangements.
This morning visit Clandeboye House (dating from the 1800s) for an exclusive tour of the house and gardens by special arrangement with the Clandeboye Estate, one of the few immense private estates (2000 acres) in County Down, still in the ownership of the original family. Clandeboye remains the creation of the proconsul 1st Marquess of Dufferin and Ava (Frederick Temple Hamilton-Temple Blackwood) and his romantic vision. The house is filled with eclectic memorabilia of artefacts from all over the world – the visitor is greeted by a heady mix of curling stones, tiger skins, stuffed bears, objects from the ancient world and fearsome weaponry. Enjoy a rare private guided tour of the house now in the hands of a Charitable Foundation following the death in 2020 of Lindy, last Marchioness of Dufferin and Ava.
The gardens were also the creation of the 1st Marquess to the designs of his landscape gardener James Frazer. The private woodland garden has been recently restored to include an apiary garden complete with 19th-century Bee House. Fergus, the Head Gardener will guide the group.
Light lunch at Clandeboye.
Afternoon private visit to the 12th-century Killyleagh Castle which dominates the small village of Killyleagh. This is the oldest inhabited castle in Northern Ireland and has belonged to the Rowan Hamilton family ever since the 17th century. Gawn Rowan Hamilton (current Lord Lieutenant of County Down) who lives here, will guide the group through his castle. The castle was redesigned in the architectural style of an elegant French chateau in the 19th century by Sir Charles Lanyon.
Return to the hotel. Dinner locally at the country Mourne Seafood Restaurant in Dundrum close by.
This morning visit Castle Ward House and Gardens. See this lovingly restored, 18th-century mansion famed for its architecture being one side Gothic and one side classical Palladian! See the well-furnished period interiors of this charming home by the shores of pretty Strangford Lough. Enjoy time in the formal gardens. Lunch under own arrangements in the café here.
Afternoon visit to Castlewellan Gardens and Arboretum with the hugely knowledgeable and entertaining Head Gardener Neil Porteous – Neil is the prominent Historic Garden Consultant and Plantsman in Northern Ireland and was formerly Head of Gardens at Mount Stewart.
The arboretum was established by the fifth Earl Annesley (1831-1909) who inherited Castlewellan demesne from his brother. This lush allotment was originally confined to the Walled Garden area, close to the huge baronial 19th-century castle with glorious prospects of the park and the Mourne Mountains. The arboretum now encompasses over one hundred acres. The hub of the collection is the Walled Garden, now called the Annesley Garden. See the Upper Garden, originally built in 1740 to cultivate kitchen produce and to the south east the larger Lower Garden – laid out in the 1850s as a pleasure ground with terraces, a fountain and ornamental trees. The two interesting areas are united by a formal axis running down through the centre which, in the Upper Garden, is lined with herbaceous borders backed with clipped yew hedges.
Return to the hotel and dinner under own arrangements.
Morning visit to Royal Hillsborough Castle and Gardens. This grand Georgian mansion, in its spectacular setting, is the official government residence of the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland as well as the official residence of King Charles III and other members of the British Royal Family when visiting the region. See all the impressive State Rooms as well as the lovely gardens greatly enhanced by a fresh ‘makeover’ – very much overseen by H.M. The King.
Also see the ‘heritage’ Village of Royal Hillsborough, famed for its original Georgian architecture.
Lunch under own arrangements at the Hillsborough Castle Cafe – this is in the delightful Walled Garden restored to what an original 18th-century vegetable and flower garden would have been like.
Transfer to Belfast George Best City Airport. Suggested flight (not included) British Airways BA 1417 departing Belfast at 15.45 hrs arriving London Heathrow at 17.10 hrs.
