29th June - 23rd September
International Gardens Festival

Open until 23 September 2007 at Emo Court, Co Laois
1 hours drive time from Dublin city centre, 5 minutes off the M7 at Junction 15
Open 10am to 6pm - 7 days a week.

This summer sees the launch of Ireland’s first International Garden Festival – an exciting and inspiring showcase for contemporary garden design. The International Garden Festival runs for three months, 29th June to 23rd September 2007 and will feature 15 very different contemporary gardens, all fully maintained for the duration of the festival so that returning visitors can see how they mature and change through the season.

The venue is Emo Court, County Laois, in the heart of Ireland just one hour’s drive from Dublin and easily reached by road and rail. Emo Court is a beautiful, neo-classical mansion designed by celebrated Irish architect James Gandon in 1790, surrounded by magnificent parkland. The Festival will be held in the midst of this picturesque landscape, adjacent to the lake, with the full vista of the house and parkland as a backdrop.

Like other similar ventures at Charmont in France, the International Festival of the Garden U.K., and Metis in Canada, Ireland’s International Garden Festival is another world class festival of ideas. The way gardens and open spaces are being used is changing and people are hungry for new inspiration. Each of the gardens will introduce visitors to a totally fresh, new way of thinking about their own outside space.

This Festival will give visitors the opportunity to enjoy and be inspired by innovative gardens designed with flair, imagination and vision

Roseleen Flanagan, organiser of the Festival, says ‘The theme for this first year of the Festival is ‘Roots-gardens that evoke a sense of belonging’.

Great houses and gardens in Co. Laois

Further information may be obtained from www.igf.ie or http://www.internationalgardenfestival.com