Saturday, May 11, 2019

A Real Life Fairytale Castle | Lismore Castle Gardens, Co. Waterford ♥

Last weekend we headed to one of the most beautiful places we've ever visited, the stunning Lismore Castle Gardens, Co. Waterford. We've visited before, but always in late summer and this time it was lovely to see the gardens in bloom for spring.

Tyler had been asking to visit the castle again for a long time. With it's tree and tyre swing, little obstacle course and lots of space to run around, it's the perfect place to visit with all the family. A family ticket to the castle gardens is €20, making it a relatively cheap place to go for a family day out.


Unfortunately the castle isn't open to the public as it's a private residence - how lucky are the people who own it - but it can be admired from all angles at afar.

The gardens offer many benches and beautiful places to sit and enjoy a picnic, in fact, the lawn area outside of the café has picnic blankets that you can borrow during your visit, and these spots are all perfect for admiring the beautiful, fairytale-like castle.

The gardens during spring are all in bloom with rhododendrons, wild garlic, bluebells and a whole host of other stunning flowers. The colour in the open gardens and it's planted areas was stunning to look at. Beau took a shine to a gorgeous shady area in the lower gardens that was surrounded with wild garlic and bluebells - this boy seems to love the wild garlic! Him sitting amongst the blooms gave me a perfect chance to work on my portrait photography!

Everywhere you look in the castle gardens there is beauty and I loved this area where I captured some snaps of Tyler sitting and standing underneath a bough of rhododendrons. This area has a little hill where the boys took great delight in running up and down. How gorgeous does he look in his little short dungarees?!

This is one of my favourite areas of the gardens, this little walkway underneath the magnolia trees which faces towards the castle in one direction and towards the tree corridor in the other. It's so scenic and such a gorgeous place to get a few snaps taken. The photographer in me always has to appreciate the beautiful picture background opportunities!

I spotted my first cow parsley bunches of the year growing in the lower gardens and the mini orchard in the upper gardens (which is home to chickens and rooster which Beau absoluely loved!) was awash with blossom which looked particularly beautiful against the clear blue skies on the day we visited. We were blessed with the weather!

This swing is one of the most amazing spots in the castle gardens, hidden under bowing tree branches, it's a perfect spot for young and old to embrace the magic of childhood that is a tree swing! Tyler loved it and kept going back for more swings. I have a beautiful picture of myself and the two boys on this swing from two years ago, a shot we tried to create this time around but sadly my lap wasn't big enough for the two of them this time.

The castle is so dreamy, no matter what direction you're looking at it from and it really is like a real-life fairytale castle. I've shared it a lot on my Instagram as of late because I don't know what could be lovelier than a castle surrounded by flowers and trees.

If you're into all the wisteria hysteria there's a huge wall of it just a few steps down from the café. This area also boasts a pale pink decorative bench for photo opportunities.

Here are a few more photos from our visit to Lismore Castle Gardens. I tried to capture the gardens in all their splendor as they really are stunning and I'm not sure I managed to do this but they are most definitely worth a visit.

Lismore is the first of many castle destinations that I want us to visit as a family this summer. There are so many beautiful places within Ireland that we haven't been yet and I'd love to explore them and share them here on the blog and on my Instagram too.

Places like this are an absolute dream to me as a flower and outdoor lover and are definitely worth a visit.

You can find more information about Lismore Castle here.

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2 comments

  1. Such a beautiful castle and it looks so romantic too. You certainly had a fun day. The photographs and smiles are lovely.

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  2. So beautiful. Outstanding pictures. We were supposed to go to Northern Ireland at the end of the month but the horrible pandemic stopped that. We are are heart broken. Last year we visited the Republic & fell in love with it. Loved the Blarney castle, Waterford, Muckross house, Ring of Kerry & so much more. Hopeful we can go next year. Can't wait.

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