The Woodstock Explorer Pack is aimed at children to give a fun appreciation of Woodstock gardens, history and wildlife with some fun snippets of information and games.

Please note all current Season tickets are due to expire at the end of January 2012.  If you are a current ticket holder and wish to renew for a further year please contact us. 

For more information please contact Head gardener John Delaney on 087 854978 or Claire Goodwin in Kilkenny County Council Parks office on 056 7794373.   Email : woodstock@kilkennycoco.ie

For further information please see Kilkenny County Council’s website  Click Here… 

‘Woodstock – beautiful Woodstock – gardens and all, are open to the public of every grade from prince to peasant, at all times, where they can walk and ramble about at pleasure to enjoy its delightful scenery, of which the eye or the mind can never tire; the noble woods, the graceful, winding silvery Nore at its foot; Lady Louisa’s beautiful rustic cottage with the mountain torrent running through the romantic glen over which it hangs; the Red house for pic-nicks, the expansive views, the beautiful picturesque bridge at Innistiogue and Brandon Hill in the distance, are all their own for the time being and though we know that thousands enjoy it again and again, without ever tiring of it, we trust that many thousands more who have never done so will be induced to make the effort and enjoy its cool retreats, its quiet glades and beautiful scenery’.

 Irish Farmer’s Gazette, September 5th, 1863. p.308

Woodstock’s Tea Room is located in the beautifully restored, cast iron conservatory.  The conservatory overlooks the Terraced Garden and is adjacent to the Walled Garden.  The tea shop serves a range of teas, coffees, delicious home made cakes and ice cream.  Soup is served in colder months.  Drop in for a cup of tea and relax over the view of the Terraced Garden.

Produce from the gardens including fruit, veg and homemade jam sold from the tea shop when available.

Large groups can be accommodated (up to a max of 50 persons)  but please dobook in advance.

The tea rooms are currently closed for the Winter months.  Due to re-open April, 2012.

 One of the most outstanding features at Woodstock  is the Monkey Puzzle Walk (Araucaria araucana) which is set out on an almost north/south axis to the south of the house. Also at Woodstock is the Noble Fir Walk (Abies procera).  The walk which is over 1/4 of a mile in length is a very fine and important surviving feature from  this 19th Century garden.   It was the last great work to the ornamental planting in the grounds made by William F.Tighe, planted during the year of his death in 1878. 

The monkey-puzzle tree has a regular dome-shaped crown of downwards-pointing branches set with sharply pointed leaves. Its name derives from the belief that monkeys have difficulty climbing it. It is the nearest living example of the trees from the Carboniferous period, about 300 million years ago.

The monkey puzzle Araucaria araucana is widely cultivated as a hardy ornamental tree in the northern hemisphere. In the wild, open, scattered forests of the monkey puzzle tree are characteristic of the foothills of the Andes in Argentina and Chile. In this region snow lies late into the spring.

Araucaria araucana is a coniferous evergreen tree, native to Chile; its branches, growing in circular arrangements (whorls) around the trunk and larger branches, are covered in prickly, leathery leaves. (Araucaria araucana, family Araucariaceae) . The base of the tree is best described as a elephant’s foot as it has rippled bark

The wild Monkey Puzzle trees in Argentina are now on the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species list which bans trade in the species. Chilean Monkey Puzzle trees were previously listed.