134m. Derreen Gardens, Beara Peninsula, Co. Kerry

Near Kenmare, Co. Kerry - SCENES from IRELAND

Derreen Garden lies on a promontory in Kilmakilloge Harbour on the Beara Peninsula, in Tuosist parish, near Kenmare in County Kerry. Henry Petty-Fitzmaurice, 4th Marquess of Lansdowne (1816–1866) started the garden in 1863 and his son, Henry Charles Keith Petty-FitzMaurice, 5th Marquess of Lansdowne (1845–1927) gave the garden its present design from the 1870s onwards. Today Derreen Garden covers more than 60 acres and includes nearly 12 km of paths you can walk on.

When the 5th Marquess of Lansdowne inherited the property in 1866, he was, like his father, drawn to the remoteness of the place. In 1870 he personally supervised alterations to Derren House, and from 1871 onwards the new Marquess and his young wife, Lady Maud Evelyn Hamilton (1850–1932), began to use Derreen as their summer residence. In the same year Lansdowne embarked on an ambitious plan to transform the bare rock and scrub oak around the house into a luxuriant woodland garden. It is said that he employed 40 people to create the garden. 400 acres of land were planted to shelter a collection of shrubs and specimen trees. Many of them brought back from the Marquess's sojourns as Governor General of Canada and Viceroy of India. In addition he subscribed to the Himalayan plant-hunting expeditions and bought exotic plants from the well known nursery firm of Veitch. In 1903 King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra visited Derreen House and Garden and planted two commemorative bamboos (source Wikipedia).


The well known Derreen Garden extends over the greater part of the peninsula on which it lies, covering an area of 60 acres and includes nearly 12 km of paths, which wind through mature and varied woodland. In the moist and mild climate, tender and exotic plants flourish. Many of the paths in the garden provide marvellous glimpses of the sea (Bay of Kilmakilloge) and the distant mountains (Caha Mountains, MacGillycuddy's Reeks). Derreen garden is particularly noted for its rhododendrons (Rhododendron arboreum) and tree ferns (Dicksonia antarctica). Throughout the garden a rich patina of moss, lichens ferns and saxifrages gives a sub-tropical feel to the whole area. As a foil to the luxuriant plantings, there are great natural outcrops of rocks. The garden is open to the public every day all year round.

We all need a good cup of tea before starting our walk around Derreen Garden and you can purchase some simple snacks.

You get a good 'easy to follow' map to guide round the wooded paths of Derreen Garden.

Derreen House: Derreen garden is designed around Derreen house, which was originally built by the Mac Finin Dubh O'Sullivan family, a branch of the O'Sullivan Beare, in the first half of the eighteenth century. After the last male member of the Mac Finin Dubh O'Sullivans had died in 1809 the house passed to Peter McSwiney who was married to a niece of that family. He was evicted from Derreen house in 1856 by William Stewart Trench, the agent of Henry Petty-Fitzmaurice, 4th Marquess of Lansdowne (1816–1866), for being some years in arreas of rent. The house was enlarged between 1863 and 1866, when the 4th Marquess of Lansdowne built a new wing. Between 1870 and 1873 it was further enlarged by Henry Charles Keith Petty-FitzMaurice, 5th Marquess of Lansdowne (1845–1927). James Franklin Fuller was appointed as architect. The house was plundered and burned in 1922 during the Irish Civil War (1922–1923), but rebuilt in a similar style by the 5th Marquess of Lansdowne in 1924 with some financial help came from the Irish Free State. Derreen house underwent further reconstruction between 1925 and 1926, having been attacked by dry rot. It is not open to the public (source Wikipedia).

Giant fern trees in Derreen Garden

A large variety of trees on either side of the woodland paths of Derreen Garden.

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First significant view of Kilmakilloge Harbour from the Derreen Garden.

Kilmakilloge Harbour

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Kilmakilloge Harbour

In Derreen Garden, tropical plants love the mildness and dampness of the west coast of Ireland

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The weather wasn't great, but the paths of Derreen Garden provide a really relaxing walk!

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Weather closing in a bit.

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