20 Secrets of South Leinster you’ve never heard of

20 places in southern Leinster you’ve probably never heard about.

1. Pleached Lime Alley, Heywood Gardens, Co Laois

Heywood Gardens is the site of two garden types: the great park created by Frederick Trench in the late 1700s and the small interlocked formal gardens created by Sir Edwin Lutyens and Gertrude Jekyll in the early 1900s.

2. Stradbally, Co. Laois

Stradbally is a picturesque town in County Laois, Ireland, located in the midlands of Ireland along the N80 road, a National Secondary Route, about 12 km (7 mi) from Portlaoise. It is known for the birth of motor racing, the Steam Rally and the Electric Picnic.

3. The Curragh Racecourse, Co. Kildare

The Curragh Racecourse in Kildare is one of the premier international horse racing venues in the world and one of Ireland’s leading sporting locations.

4. Japanese Gardens, Irish National Stud, Co. Kildare

The Irish National Stud is a Thoroughbred horse breeding facility in Tully, Kildare, County Kildare, Ireland. It was formally established by incorporation on 11 April 1946 under the National Stud Act, 1945 and is owned by the Irish Government. The Gardens, planned to symbolise the ‘Life of Man’, are now of international renown and are acclaimed as the finest Japanese Gardens in Europe.

5. St Joseph’s Square, Maynooth College, Co. Kildare

The beautiful scenic square located in St Patrick’s College, Maynooth, 24 km from Dublin, Ireland.

6. Mount Usher Gardens, Co. Wicklow

Mount Usher is among Ireland’s most loved gardens, by both professionals and the wider public. The gardens were first planted in 1868 in the Robinsonian style, after the Irish garden designer William Robinson, who emphasised informal planting in harmony with the natural setting of the garden.

7. Wicklow Mountains, Co. Wicklow

The Wicklow Mountains form the largest continuous upland area in Ireland. They occupy the whole centre of County Wicklow and stretch outside its borders into Counties Carlow, Wexford and Dublin. Where the mountains extend into County Dublin, they are known locally as the Dublin Mountains. The highest peak is Lugnaquilla at 925 metres (3,035 feet).

8. Powerscourt Gardens, Co. Wicklow

Powerscourt Gardens in County Wicklow is one of the most beautiful gardens in Ireland! The gardens at Powerscourt were laid out over two main periods. Many of the people involved in their creation and development never saw the gardens completed in their lifetime. When the house was rebuilt in the decade after 1731, the surrounding grounds were also remodelled. The design reflected the desire to create a garden which was part of the wider landscape. And what a view it is! To the North formal tree plantations framed the vista from the house, while a walled garden, fish pond, cascades, grottos and terraces lay to the South. Walks wound through the wooded grounds and a fine tree lined avenue was created. When you arrive at the tree lined avenue today, hundreds of beech trees will guide your visit.

9. Glendalough, Co. Wicklow

A popular day trip from Dublin, Glendalough, or the ‘Valley of Two Lakes’, is one of Ireland’s most prominent monastic sites, nestled in the heart of the Wicklow Mountains National Park. The 6th century Christian settlement was founded by St. Kevin and boasts a series of impressive remains set against a backdrop of picturesque Irish countryside. Nicknamed ‘the garden of Ireland’, Wicklow is a nature lover’s paradise of rolling meadows, vast lakes and hillsides carpeted in purple heather.

10. Avoca, Co. Wicklow

Avoca is a beautiful small town near Arklow, in County Wicklow, Ireland. It is situated on the River Avoca. voca lies on the R752 regional road linking Rathnew with Woodenbridge. The village is served by Bus Éireann route 133 from Dublin (66 km) and Wicklow (21 km) to Arklow (10 km), with two departures in each direction on Mondays to Saturdays and one each way on Sundays.

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