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Glengarriff and Garnish Island: A Garden on an Island

Cork, Ireland

easy
nature

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Ilnacullin

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250

XP

1 day

Glengarriff and Garnish Island: A Garden on an Island

easy
nature

250 XP

Ilnacullin, Garnish Island, in Glengarriff harbour, was bought from the War Office in 1910 by John Annan Bryce, a Belfast man, and Harold Peto designed its gardens; the mansion Peto drew for it was never built. Bryce's son Roland left the island to the Irish nation in 1953. George Bernard Shaw stayed, and there is a restored Martello tower from the Napoleonic Wars — straight-sided, like the others in Cork, rather than splayed at the base. Behind the village, Glengarriff Forest keeps some of the oldest and most extensive oak and birch woods left in Ireland.

Required Activities

1

of 4

Take the boat out to Garnish Island and walk Harold Peto's gardens

2

of 4

Climb to the Martello tower on the island

3

of 4

Walk the old oak and birch woods of Glengarriff Forest

4

of 4

Find out why the house Peto designed for the island was never built

  • Take the boat out to Garnish Island and walk Harold Peto's gardens

  • Climb to the Martello tower on the island

  • Walk the old oak and birch woods of Glengarriff Forest

  • Find out why the house Peto designed for the island was never built

Before you go

Garinish Island opens from late March to early November; Glengarriff Forest is walkable all year.

Garinish Island and its gardens open from late March to early November only, and the boats stop in bad weather — check sailings before you go. Glengarriff Forest is open all year.

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Challenge Location

XP Breakdown

Challenge XP

250 XP


Potential total

250 XP

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