Visiting Kilgar Gardens
Kilgar Gardens comprises of three acres of beautiful gardens and is located just outside Kilcock, Co. Meath. The gardens and tea rooms are open to the public on Saturdays and Sundays from 1st of May until 5th of September from 11am until 5pm. Group tours are welcome by prior arrangement 7 days a week.
- €6 entry to gardens
- Partial wheelchair accessibility
- Plenty of parking
- Enjoy teas, coffees & cakes in our Tea Rooms
- Botanical paintings & illustrations can be purchased
- Flower Farm - bouquets available for purchase
About the Gardens
Covering an area of three acres, Kilgar Gardens has been lovingly designed and maintained as a series of gardens within a garden by Paula Byrne. In 2005, Paula and her husband Thomas Byrne purchased a 23 acre site just outside Kilcock in Gallow, County Meath. After the beautiful family home was built in 2007 Paula’s love affair with gardening began.
Kilgar gardens comprises a series of garden ‘rooms’, each themed and unique yet quietly interconnected, that take you a journey that will stay with you. The first room is a blaze of colour with calla lilies, dahlias and poppies. Next, is the Urn Walk, where you will aptly find a large ornamental urn, surrounded by shady plants and evergreen shrubs.
Many materials have been salvaged and recycled, such as the old milking parlour roof from her dad’s farm which has been used to cover a little painted shed, nestled by an apple tree, and to build several galvanised raised beds for the flower farm, where Paula grows blooms for occasional flower arranging and sale. There are discreet seating areas and pretty wood cabins dotted throughout the gardens, with Paula’s personal touch evident in the charming details of each and every one.
The rose garden, at the heart of the garden and the beauty of the David Austin roses will assail the senses. The various shades of pink, yellow and creamy white blossoms, combined with the wafting fragrant scent, undoubtedly make this flower the beauty queen. Paula has designed a tightly structured garden with paths marked out with box hedging and lined with lime trees. A lovely addition is the set of Four Seasons statues, each representing a temporal season. Yet for all its impact and precision, it’s the artful simplicity of the rose garden that creates a distinct atmosphere in which you will want to linger.
The adjoining Mediterranean room brims with pots and colourful annuals, flanking the stone pathway that leads to the meadow garden with its winding grass paths and natural planting which then open into the natural garden, filled with cherry blossom tress.
The final room is the serenity garden, the most recent of Paula’s designs, inspired by a trip to Normandy, in France, where Paula visited a number of beautiful private gardens. During the pandemic, Paula worked relentlessly creating this space with its striking steel arches and pond, complete with a pair of handcrafted heron sculptures and chunky wooden bench. It is planted with an array of trees, shrubs and bulbs, on a generous, circular site, and set to mature beautifully over time.
Tea Rooms & Gallery
Visitors to the gardens can enjoy freshly brewed coffee and homemade scones, lemon drizzle and carrot cakes in the tea room at the rear of the house, overlooking the rose gardens. There is ample outdoor seating to further drink in the picture-perfect setting. Here you can also view and purchase Paula’s botanical paintings, drawn from her beloved gardens.
