The gardens at Burtown are made up of several areas, including large herbaceous borders, shrubberies, a rock garden, a yew walk divided by a pergola, a sundial garden, a walled kitchen garden, an old orchard, a more formal stable yard garden and a large woodland garden surrounded on all sides by water.

This woodland, known as the Nutgrove, hosts a fine collection of candelabra primulas, hostas, ferns and iris, amongst other plants. There are many old roses, paeonies and clematis, and a walled vegetable garden that has been in continuous production for over 150 years.

Garden Opening Times 2024

Garden Opening Times 2024

Wednesday - Sunday 9.00am - 5.00pm

Admission Fees

  • Adults: €8
  • Children over 5: €5
  • Children under 5: Free
  • Family Rate: €20
Snowdrops & Aconites

A Garden for all Seasons

The gardens come to life in January with a spectacular show of naturalised winter aconites and snowdrops, hellebores, cyclamen, trilliums and many crocus. This is followed by many varieties of daffodils throughout the parkland. May and June are peak months for variety and colour, especially in the planting along the stream. After a strong summer show of irises, roses, paeonies and clematis, the colour continues with many varieties of crocosmia and phlox into autumn. There are over 12 acres of gardens, park and woodland, and 180 acres of remaining farmland from a once 2000 acre estate.

Artist Lelsey Fennell in her gardens

The Hands that shaped the Gardens

Isabel Shackleton (married to the present owner’s great grandfather and first cousin to the explorer Ernest Shackleton) was responsible for much of the original layout, but over the last 20 years it has been greatly enlarged and reclaimed by the present owners, artist Lesley Fennell and her son James. Wendy Walsh, Lesley’s mother and one of Ireland’s foremost botanical painters, moved many of her rare plants to Burtown from her home in Lusk, Co. Dublin. These form a good collection of interesting specimens that were painted by Wendy Walsh throughout her career.

Herbaceous borders Pergola

Visiting Burtown House

Burtown House may also be visited by prior appointment.

If you are interested in visiting as a group please send us an email. House tours take roughly one hour and are taken by present owner James Fennell. Topics of discussion will generally include the history of Burtown, its interiors and inhabitants, the Quakers, the surrounding landscape, its history and the nearby Quaker village of Ballytore.

House Opening Times 2024

  • May 1-4, 8-11, 15-18, 22- 25, 29-31
  • June 5-8, 12-15, 19-22, 26-29
  • August 17-25, 28-31
  • National Heritage Week: August 13th - 21st, 10am-2pm

Admission Fees

  • Adults: €10
  • Children over 5: €5
  • Children under 5: Free
  • Private Pre Booked Groups are accepted all year round
Early Spring Aconites Looking down on the gardens