Mount Stewart, County Down

Mount Stewart sits on the shores of Strangford Lough, about thirty minutes from Belfast, on the Ards Peninsula near Newtownards. The gardens are the reason most people come, and they are regularly placed among the finest in these islands.

The nineteenth-century house reopened after a three-year restoration costing around £8 million, and the difference is obvious to anyone who saw it beforehand.

The Gardens

The formal gardens are laid out as a series of themed rooms, each with its own character: the Italian Garden, the Spanish Garden, the Mairi Garden and the Shamrock Garden. They sit close to the house and were largely the work of Edith, Lady Londonderry, in the 1920s.

Beyond them, the grounds open into an informal landscaped parkland around the lake, which is where the planting is at its most unusual. The mild climate coming off Strangford Lough lets things grow here that would not survive elsewhere in Northern Ireland, and that is what visitors from further afield tend to notice first.

Allow at least two hours for the gardens alone if you want to see them properly, rather than walk through them.

The House

The interior holds portraits, silver collections and furniture accumulated across generations of the Londonderry family. Guided tours run through the principal rooms and are worth taking rather than wandering through on your own, because the collection means considerably more with the context attached.

Strangford Lough and the Peninsula

The lough is a large sea inlet almost enclosed by the Ards Peninsula, with a narrow mouth where the tide runs hard enough to be worth watching. It is a designated Marine Nature Reserve, and there is significant birdlife, particularly in winter.

The ferry between Portaferry and Strangford crosses the mouth in around ten minutes and saves a long drive round. Both villages are worth a stop, and the area carries Viking, Norman, and Ulster-Scots history layered on top of one another.

Practical Information

Mount Stewart is a National Trust property, so admission is ticketed and Trust members enter free. Opening times vary by season, with the house typically open on a shorter schedule than the gardens.

Check the National Trust website for current opening and pricing before you travel, particularly out of season. The gardens involve a good deal of walking on gravel and grass, and the ground around the lake can be soft after rain.

Visiting With a Private Driver

We run Mount Stewart from Belfast as part of a wider day rather than a single destination, because thirty minutes each way leaves plenty of the day free.

The usual route pairs Mount Stewart with the peninsula: down through Newtownards, the estate and gardens, then on to Portaferry and across the ferry to Strangford. From there, the return runs back towards Belfast through County Down.

Adding Shortcross Gin

Rademon Estate at Crossgar is home to Shortcross Gin, and a private tour of the distillery combines naturally with Mount Stewart on the same day. The tour covers the process and the estate, with a tutored tasting afterwards. The botanicals include apples, elderflower, elderberries and wild clover grown on the estate itself.

Because the driving is handled, the tasting is actually a tasting rather than a look at the bottles.

Adding Belfast

Some guests finish the day in Belfast rather than heading straight back. City Hall, the Titanic Quarter, the Cathedral Quarter and the political murals along the Peace Walls all sit within a short circuit, and our private tours of Belfast and the Belfast and Titanic tour cover the city properly if you would rather give it its own day.

Other Days Out from Belfast

If County Down appeals, Royal Hillsborough Castle is around twenty minutes south of Belfast and works well in poor weather.

Heading north instead, the Giant’s Causeway, Carrick-a-Rede and the Glens of Antrim fill a longer day, and the Game of Thrones filming locations run along the same coast. Our day tours across Northern Ireland cover the alternatives.

Cruise passengers should see our Belfast shore excursions, as Mount Stewart is comfortably within reach on a longer port call and considerably quieter than the north coast.

Common Questions