Glenarm Castle Walled Garden

Glenarm is a picturesque village on the Causeway Coast and home to Glenarm Castle and its magnificent walled garden.  When I read on Instagram two weeks ago that the garden was re-opening after weeks of endless lockdown,  I made the short trip to visit on the second day.  It was a Friday, the start of my new longer weekend, the sun was shining, it was warm and off I set along the glorious and blissfully empty coast road to reach my destination just before 11am.

Currently the garden is open between 11am and 3pm. Admittedly, this is not the best time to take photographs due to the harshness of the light and it was already very sunny. But I could hardly complain…freedom to wander round the garden with the sun on my face was more than enough.

With so much to take in and enjoy, I perhaps got a little carried away with the camera. It can be a challenge sometimes to strike a balance between capturing the moment and enjoying the moment, particularly when you have perfectionist tendencies ! I won’t be too hard on myself this time round, but I’ll definitely have to try and reign this in – my aim is to take fewer, but better photographs.  I am getting there – slowly.

The walled garden is one of Ireland’s oldest walled gardens. Originally created to supply the castle with fruit and vegetables, it is now filled with beautiful borders and colour throughout the year. I’ve visited the garden twice before – once during the magnificent tulip display in May (you can find the post  here ) and then again in early September (you can find that post here )

Needless to say, I won’t share all the photos from my most recent visit – just a few of the key things that caught my eye as I meandered around the garden for almost two hours. I do hope you enjoy.

Secret doors and forget me nots…

Mother and child

Acquilegias in sun and shade and still in bloom…

Wildflowers in a meadow…

The greenhouse and the play of light and shadow…

If you are interested in visiting, I should add that there is ample car parking and good social distancing measures in place including hand sanitiser, contactless payment and good signage for queues. The tea room is currently closed, but you can purchase takeaway coffee/tea, cakes and light snacks to eat at the picnic tables outside.

For more information, you can visit their website here

Have a lovely weekend,

Paula x