Hillsborough Castle and Gardens

About the garden

Hillsborough Castle boasts almost 100 acres of glorious gardens, developed from the 1760s. These include ornamental grounds and formal gardens, peaceful woodlands, meandering waterways, picturesque glens, an idyllic lake and a large walled garden.

Major features are the Yew Tree Walk, named after the paired Irish yew trees that line the path; the Granville Garden, created in the 1940s by Lady Rose Bowes-Lyon, wife of the Earl of Granville, the second Governor of Northern Ireland, at the centre of which lies a bed planted with the Northern Ireland Centenary Rose; the Moss Walk, framed beneath a canopy of 180-year-old lime trees and recently enhanced with new paths that follow the original historic layout from the 1770s; and Lady Alice’s Temple, added in 1867.

The walled garden is part ornamental, part kitchen garden and part orchard. Of particular interest are the espalier fruit trees, some of which were planted over 100 years ago.