Powerscourt House & Gardens - Japanese Garden

After visiting the Powerscourt Gardens last week I'm not surprsied it was voted "No.3 Garden in the World by National Geographic". Powerscourt House and Gardens are nestled in the Wicklow mountains near the village of Enniskerry. It's a short distance from Dublin and less than an hour drive from where I live in Kildare. 

Inside these spectacular gardens lies the "Japanese Garden" which was laid out over 100 years ago in 1908.

My favourite time to visit the Japanese Garden is during Spring when you can view the cherry blossoms and Autumn when you can admire the different colours of the Japanese maple trees. Although the gardens are stunning all year. 

We were very lucky as the sun was shining all day and the cherry blossoms were in full bloom.

The Pepperpot Tower was the kids favourite place in the gardens as they can climb up the winding stairs inside the tower to reach the top! 

We enjoyed the amazing scenery during our lunch outside in the Avoca Terrace Cafe. There is so much to see inside the gardens I'd give yourself plenty of time to wander around. 

For more information go to http://powerscourt.com/

All photographs in this post were taken by Smiles! Photography who I would recommend highly for these type of photos but also family photos as she has a unique way of making kids smile naturally in photos.

CHERRY BLOSSOMS AT THE JAPANESE GARDENS IN KILDARE

After months of miserable weather the sun started to shine and the cherry blossoms started to bloom. I packed a Japanese themed picnic and headed to the Japanese Gardens with my family. The gardens are located in the Irish National Stud in Tully, Kildare (exit 13 just off the N7) just 45 minutes from Dublin city centre. 

 

As we drove through the gates of the Irish National Stud we were welcomed by large blooming cherry blossom trees which were being admired by families having picnics on the surrounding benches.

The gardens are beautiful all year around however they're particularly beautiful during the cherry blossom season. I had a chance to meet the gardener Jim and learn a little about cherry blossoms and the maintenance required for such a large garden. Jim told me that the cherry blossoms bloomed a bit later this year due to the cold weather. While we walked around the gardens he showed us the different variations of cherry blossoms and the discrete differences between them (including pink perfection, kanzan, shirofugen, taihaku, incisa and kiku-shidare). 

The gardens symbolise the "Life of Man" from birth to old age and the different paths that can be chosen during life. 

This is one of my favourite views looking towards the bridge of life.

The bridge of marriage

The Japanese tea room

The Japanese Gardens hold very special memories for my husband and I as we visited there on our wedding day to take photos.  

Queen Elizabeth II visited the Irish National Stud during her state visit to Ireland in May 2012 where The Queen enjoyed a stallion parade and unvieled a sculpture dedicated to a thorough bred horse born in the stud called "Sea the Stars". Click here to see more details.

For more info on the Japanese Gardens and the Irish National Stud see the links below:

http://irishnationalstud.ie/

http://irishnationalstud.ie/visitors/46/europes-finest-japanese-gardens.html