Belvedere House & Gardens

Belvedere House is right beside Mullingar Golf Club and after golf we decided to pay it a visit. The weather had really picked up and it was sunny and warm when we arrived. After some making some lunch in the car park we headed in to explore.

Entry costs €8.95 for an adult, which we thought was reasonable, and once through the visitor area (which has more displays, a cafe and a 10 minute film which we didn’t watch) we headed for the house. Before you get there you pass the largest folly in Ireland, built to look like a huge ruin. It’s very impressive – as is the story of why it was built (I’ll leave you to discover that bit on your own!). You enter the house at the back through the basement area which has a dairy and a kitchen. There are no artefacts but plenty of displays and information about the house and its owners.

The ground floor upstairs is fully restored and though there weren’t many rooms they were very impressive. I particularly liked the dining room – very easy to imagine what it must have been like to dine there.

As we finished the tour of the house we got talking (and by we I mean Clive) to a very knowledgeable lady about Belvedere and many other houses in the area. She name-dropped shamelessly but Clive managed to keep up with his Lissadell connections! They chatted for ages about history and I kind of switched off – but she sure knew her big houses.

Out of the house we went to the walled garden which was as excellent as any we have visited. They get minus points, however, for the dead fish (carp no less) floating in their pond!

After that we went for a walk down to and along the lake shore. It wasn’t too taxing a walk, though longer routes are available if you’re feeling energetic. There seems to be a Narnia trail of some kind for the kids and it did seem like a popular attraction – the car park was packed as we left.

A worthwhile visit if you’re in the area.

Link: Belvedere House