Official opening of forgotten Castle Ward garden

Official opening of forgotten Castle Ward garden

27 June 2018

A FORGOTTEN garden at the Castle Ward estate near Strangford has been restored to its former glory.

After a winter of wet weather and hard work from the National Trust team, the magnificent Windsor Garden at Castle Ward was unveiled to the public last week.

A once colourful show-stopper, over the years the garden had changed dramatically in form, with the elaborate parterre design giving way to rolling lawns and a Mediterranean feel.

A painting from 1864 by scientist and artist Mary Ward shows the original Windsor Garden as a sea of bright colours and so a project was undertaken by the National Trust to return the space to the high Victorian arrangement it once enjoyed.

The final product is now nominated as one of the UK’s 100 best gardens by Garden News.

“The garden was clearly designed to show off to visiting guests,” said Castle Ward gardener Andy Dainty. 

“It’s wonderful to see the painting of Mary Ward become a reality now that the summer bedding has been completed. Thanks to the Ulster Gardens Scheme, a piece of history of Castle Ward has been preserved for our visitors.”

Once the project was given the go-ahead and funding supplied from wills, gifts and a generous donation from the Ulster Gardens Scheme, £37,500 was raised in early 2017.

“Work for the National Trust team commenced in late summer to completely change the landscape and install the complicated parterre system. Over the winter, a mammoth 120 tons of soil and gravel and 7,000 bulbs were moved and planted by Andy and a small team of volunteers.

They faced wet weather, high winds, conservation restrictions and plant distribution problems, but have persevered to give the garden a dramatic makeover.

The spring bulbs have now been replaced by the summer bedding, providing much more colour and texture throughout the summer months.

The official opening took place last week and was attended by the Ulster Garden Scheme to thank them for their generous support of the project. 

Jacqui Baird, National Trust general manager for South Down commented: “The newly restored Sunken Garden has been brought back to a Victorian arrangement and is a much more fitting showpiece for the estate, bringing together the history and natural beauty of Castle Ward.

“It’s wonderful to see visitors today being as impressed by the garden as they would have been on a visit in 1864.”