What are the Japanese Gardens at Kildare, and when are they at their best?
They are the surprise inside the Irish National Stud: a garden laid out between 1906 and 1910 by the Japanese gardener Tassa Eida and his son Minoru, for Lord Wavertree, the Stud's founder. The path is a story, the Life of Man, from the Cave of Birth through the Tunnel of Ignorance and the Hill of Learning to the Bridge of Life, the Chair of Old Age and the Gate of Eternity, with a red bridge and a tea house among maples, pines and water. Best in spring, when the cherries and azaleas flower, and again in autumn for the maple colour. The gardens sit inside the Stud's grounds and are covered by the same ticket.
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