About Houses, Castles and Gardens of Ireland

Houses, Castles and Gardens of Ireland is a non-profit, voluntary association of owners of heritage properties (built heritage and gardens) which welcomes visitors to experience the special attractions which these unique places can offer. It is an all Ireland group, incorporating several properties in the care of the National Trust of Northern Ireland, and the Belfast Botanic Gardens. It had its origins in the mid 1960s as Historic Irish Tourist Houses Association and evolved to embrace the Gardens of Ireland group which was set up in the mid 1990s with the support of Bord Failte, The National Tourism Authority. The merging of Gardens of Ireland and Heritage Properties was effective from the end of 1997. The group continues to work closely with Failte Ireland (formerly Bord Failte) and Tourism Ireland and is supported by Failte Ireland in its marketing programme.

HCGI represents a broad selection of architectural gems from large privately owned Georgian mansions of the 18th century for which Ireland is renowned to early castle strongholds and gothic revival houses of the Victorian era. Long neglected gardens have been rediscovered and restored with funding from the Great Gardens of Ireland funding programme. The choice of gardens to visit includes formal 17th century gardens, landscape parks of the 18th century, rustic wilderness gardens, 20th century cottage gardens, suburban gardens and botanic gardens and arboreta.

Some of our 60 members welcome overnight guests and a further 7 associate members, mostly small luxury hotels, offer elegant accommodation and excellent food and are specially selected for their locations in surrounding parkland or beautiful gardens.

An excellent leaflet which lists all the opening times and seasons is available free of charge.

Contact Houses, Castle and Gardens of Ireland