Mount Congreve is set to re-open to the public today.
It's hoped that Mount Congreve House and Gardens can attract over 150,000 annual visitors once a multi-million euro re-development is completed.
Sara Dolan, Commercial Director at Mount Congreve says their particularly excited to open their new visitor centre:
"We're reopening our doors to a new visitor centre, which comprises the new Secret Garden shop - a very unique shopping destination.
"We tried very hard to pick and curate products that reflect the gardens, and some are branded with Mount Congreve, others are from local suppliers.
"[For example] we have Wild Oats Soap who have made a unique soap for us, with flowers pressed from the garden."
The majority of the funding has been taken up by the new shop and visitor centre but Sara says there is still some work to be done:
"We have a pocket of money left for the Georgian Glasshouse and works will commence on that early next year.
"We're also in the process of working on the house. So, there will be three rooms that will be open to the public next year."
The gardens at Mount Congreve were founded on the inspiration, generosity, and encouragement of Mr Lionel N. de Rothschild who was one of the greatest landscapers of the 20th century.
The original gardens had comprised of a simple terraced garden with a woodland of chestnuts and ilexes that Ambrose Congreve had began planting early on his life.
However, it wasn't until 1955 that he began to make large clearings in the woodlands to create the necessary conditions where his new plants would thrive.
With the arrival of Mr. Herman Dool in the early sixties, the two men began the process that would lead to Mount Congreve’s recognition as one of the ‘Great Gardens of the World’.
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