Birr Castle has in it’s grounds The Great Telescope which was constructed here in the 1840s by the third Earl of Rosse. For over 70 years this was the world’s largest telescope. It was through this instrument that the Earl discovered the Whirlpool Nebula in the 1840s.
This arched Hornbeam walkway is within the walled garden.
This stone head gazes out from the grotto built over the Cuileann Tobar, the well of the Holly.
Formal box hedging surround 300 year old urns from Bavaria.
Herbaceous border in the walled garden.
This path lined with formal box hedging and topiary leads to the now sadly underused glasshouse. To left and right by the glasshouse are herbaceous borders. These glasshouses would once have been hives of activity propogating plants and seeds brought back from the plant expeditions abroad.
To finish, another beautiful Paeony Rose.
arignagardener 