Gardens of Original Irish Hotels - 7 Kitchen gardens that grow their own produce
Many of our Original Irish Hotels have their own kitchen gardens, where produce is grown in order to create delicious dishes in the hotels’ restaurants. You can take a journey around the country and stay in some the most established properties while visiting their gardens and enjoying the produce during your stay.
MOUNT FALCON ESTATE
Mount Falcon Estate in Ballina Co. Mayo is a beautiful Victorian Manor House located on the bank of the River Moy. The hotel lies on 100 acres of land with woodland walks and their very own kitchen garden. The kitchen garden is used to grow vegetables that are difficult to source or expensive to buy. All produce harvest is used in the hotel’s kitchen and served at the 2AA Rosette Kitchen Restaurant. Visiting the kitchen garden is a fascinating experience as you are surrounded by vivid colours and aromas.
Beech Hill Country House Hotel
For years the walled garden at Beech Hill lay idle and overgrown until the discovery of an old cook book from Mrs. Skipton, a previous owner was discovered and inspired the team to start farming the walled gardens again.
Beech Hill’s talented gardener, Bob Peaker has restored the walled gardens & brought it back to life – it now supplies the kitchen with home grown vegetables, fruits and herbs just like it would have done 200 years ago!
Head chef Leigh Thuraston designs all his dishes around what is harvested and couples it with the best of local meat, fish & game to give the most authentic Irish dining experience to both Ardmore Restaurant and Sixteen22 Gastro Pub.
Bob welcomes you to come see first-hand the journey of our produce from the plant to your plate, gain some tips into the gardening process, how we incorporate each item into our menu & why they taste so good!
Lough Rynn Castle
The walled gardens of Lough Rynn Castle have a colourful past. They started as a focal point of the estate and quickly became a talking point of all those who visited the castle, The grounds fell into disrepair and became massively overgrown and eventually grew to the point where it became hard to even see. They have now been restored to their former glory and are once again one of the most beautiful sights on the estate with it’s vegetables and fruit being used for the hotel’s 2AA Rosette Sandhouse restaurant.
Brooklodge & Mecreddin Village
Wicklow is Ireland's Garden County and Brooklodge & Macreddin Village is living up to that name with their very own herb garden on site, their Chefs favourite place! Brooklodge & Macreddin Village are renowned for their organic food and they host a Food Market which allows Artisan Food Producers and Farm Food Producers to showcase and sell their products directly to the public. Macreddin Village Food Market - one of Ireland’s longest running Markets, takes place on the first Sunday of the month from April to October and runs from 12 noon to 5pm.
Fitzgeralds Woodlands House Hotel
Fitzgeralds Woodlands House Hotel & Spa has an organic treat for you during your stay!
When visiting the Hotel, you can explore a trail on the hotel grounds that begins at Mary's organic garden. Mary's Garden is named after owner, Mary Fitzgerald who runs the hotel with her Family. The trail is perfect for any visitor that wants enjoy a little bit of nature.
Fitzgeralds Woodlands House Hotel now have Limerick's first organic restaurant using 100% organic produce, including organic produce from Mary's garden. Even the Menus are organic! In Fielding’s of Adare Organic restaurant the menu is printed on seed paper and guests are encourage to take their menu home and plant it.
Parnasilla Resort & Spa
Parknasilla Resort & Spa is situated on 500 acres and has a number of walking trails around the property for garden enthusiasts to enjoy. On the grounds is their walled gardens, where the gardeners hard work gives the team in the kitchen the opportunity to add an extra touch of magic to the dishes. From the exotic, lesser known garden gems, to the everyday classics, Parknasilla find that there is nothing better than cooking, plating up and serving fresh as a daisy home grown produce, that’s been dug up that day.
Ballynahinch Castle Hotel
Ballynahinch Castle is located in the heart of Connemara in Co. Galway. The estate has an interesting history and has been owned by truly fascinating historical characters such a Pirate Queen and an Indian Maharaja! The castle is located on 700 acres of land with mature wooded grounds and walks and one of Connemara's oldest landscaped gardens.
The restoration of the walled gardens started in 2017 and finished in early 2018 involving the complete rebuilding of the original garden walls. Head gardener at Ballynahicnh Castle, Cian Cunniffe harvests the produce from the garden for use in the award-winning Owenmore Restaurant and the Fisherman’s Pub and Ranji Room. Alongside with the produce the garden has a brand-new greenhouse, potting sheds and a beautiful water feature.