The Gardens are open daily from 09:30am to 6:00pm
Pre-purchase your tickets online
Sala Thai open for lunch and dinner
The Skywalk, Ireland's Longest Rope-bridge
Adults €9.50, Family (2A & 3C) €30, Child €7.50. Towards the end of the nineteenth century a scion of this family, Rowland Blennerhassett, began to shape the wild landscape, plant trees, and lay out gardens. The work was continued, in varying degrees, through subsequent owners Preece (1940) McCowan (1971) and Vogel (1979). In 2006, the estate, suffering from neglect, was purchased by Billy Alexander. Billy is a traveller; a plant explorer, a horticulturist, a gardener, a propagator and above all a pteridophile – a fern lover, an expert in the propagation, growth, and care of ferns. His garden displays are multiple medal winners, and have captivated plantspeople at RHS Chelsea, Tatton Park, Hampton Court, and Bloom. He has travelled to the jungles of Asia, the rainforests of the Antipodes and the remotest Pacific islands to study the great trunked ferns in their native environments. he has enabled these plants to thrive in the unique microclimate of Kells Bay. His introduction to Kells Bay came in 1998 when he delivered a Silver tree-fern (Cyathea dealbata) to the then owners. Kells’ centrepiece is the forest of 600 mature Dicksonia antarctica tree-ferns bordering the Ladies Walled Garden. It is believed all are descended from one mother fern, planted in the walled garden in 1890. On his first visit Billy was hooked and when the house and gardens came on the market subsequently, he felt compelled to buy them. Since then, he has worked to restore the gardens and house sensitively and sustainably. To describe these as formal gardens is misleading. Gardening here is practiced in the Robinsonian style, where it is often difficult to distinguish between nature and artifice. This suits both the lush Kerry landscape and Billy’s style of gardening. He has taken risks with mass planting and introductions, he utilises sculpture to extend the lives of damaged trees, and he balances the battle between untamed growth and aesthetics in sympathy with the wild Atlantic landscape. The result is a garden of unique diversity and interest, not for the faint-hearted! The development of 10km of walks throughout the gardens, the opening of The Skywalk Ireland’s longest rope-bridge, and the Jurassic dinosaur sculptures has brought these wonderful gardens, never before open to the public, to an appreciative new audience. Over the last decade The Southern Symposium, an annual weekend gathering hosted by Billy, with guest speakers of world-renown, attracts discerning plantspeople from Ireland and abroad to the gardens each September. The former hunting lodge has been restored and refurbished to the highest standard and now offers superior guest accommodation. The wonderful Kerry hospitality is complemented by the award-winning Sala Thai restaurant, where Penn, a native of Trang province, Thailand, serves dishes learned at her mother’s elbow, enhanced with the best of local produce and a select W**e list, to connoisseurs of fine dining.
