Mount Usher Gardens, and why you’d stop
Mount Usher is the reason to pull off the M11 at Ashford. Edward Walpole laid it out from 1868 along the River Vartry in the free-form style of the gardener William Robinson – no clipped parterres, just exotic and native plants left to grow into each other along the water. More than 5,000 species are packed into nine hectares, threaded with wooden footbridges and one springy suspension bridge over the river. It’s open daily from March to October, 10.30am to 5.20pm, and costs €7 for an adult. The Avoca café and shop at the entrance stay busy; the far end of the garden, past the tree collection, is where it goes quiet.
If you only have an hour in Ashford, spend it here. The village itself – population just under 1,900, and a good deal calmer since the N11 bypass took the through-traffic away in 2004 – is a crossroads with a few shops and eateries rather than a destination in its own right.
Around the village
The stone bridge over the Vartry is older than it looks. It was refurbished in the 1840s by John ‘of Glanmore’ Hatch Synge, using slate from his Glanmore estate and Wicklow granite. Ashford’s community and heritage centre, opened in 2014, holds a museum-standard local exhibition, and there’s a decent playground with a teen zone and an outdoor gym if you’re travelling with children.
For something more active, the area has equestrian centres, Boswell’s among them, the Ballyknockan Cookery School, and Go Wild Wicklow’s adventure centre. Ashford Studios, the screen-production complex on the edge of the village, is best known as the base for the Vikings series – it’s a working studio, though, not a visitor attraction.
Devil’s Glen
A few minutes away, Devil’s Glen is a glacial gorge with woodland trails running down to the River Vartry and a waterfall at the head of the valley. It’s also home to Sculpture in Woodland, a permanent trail of contemporary pieces by Irish and international artists set among the trees. That trail is the real draw here, and it’s free to walk.
Nearby
Ashford works as a base for wider Wicklow. Powerscourt Gardens is a short drive north, Avoca village with its handweaving mill about ten minutes on, and the sands of Brittas Bay within 20 km to the south. The monastic site at Glendalough, with its round tower and lakes, is roughly 30 km west.
Practical information
- Getting there: By car it’s the N11/M11, about 30 km south of Dublin. By bus, Bus Éireann route 133 links Ashford with Wicklow and Dublin, while route 131 runs between Wicklow Town and Bray. The nearest DART station is Bray.
- Mount Usher Gardens: open daily March to October, 10.30am–5.20pm; €7 for an adult. Toilets, the Avoca café and a shop are at the entrance. Main paths are gravelled and fine for pushchairs and wheelchairs; some Devil’s Glen woodland paths are uneven.
- Parking: there’s parking at Mount Usher and in the village, but the charges aren’t confirmed, so check the signage when you arrive.
- Best time to visit: late spring and early summer, when the garden’s flowering trees and shrubs peak. Come when it opens at 10.30 and start at the far end before the café crowd works its way down.