Ambitious plans for Mount Congreve Gardens outlined to Waterford City & Co Council

Mount Congreve Gardens have ambitious plans for the next three years, the local authority has heard. 

The journey of Mount Congreve Gardens since it officially opened just 8 months ago has been an extraordinary one and on Friday the Estate’s Commercial Director, Sara Dolan outlined a new vision to the elected members of Waterford City and Council Council to build further upon its success over the next three years.

Visitors have arrived to enjoy the spectacular Mount Congreve House and Gardens in their droves since it officially opened last March 1st, 2023. Some 85,000 visitors have enjoyed the cafe and shop at the new visitor centre and in addition, some 65,000 visitors have enjoyed a visit to the gardens. The visitors have arrived from all over the Southeast, all across Ireland and from international visitor markets, ensuring a total economic impact for Waterford of €6,345,000 million euros.

In addition, over the last month Mount Congreve Gardens has been announced as the 2023 Visitor Attraction Winner at Ireland’s longest-running hospitality awards, the prestigious Georgina Campbell Awards and also received news that Mount Congreve Gardens will be presented with an International Garden Tourism Award 2023 cited as a Garden of the World Worth Travelling For in 2024. This award will be presented in Canada at the beginning of November at the International Garden Tourism Award Gala.

The team at Mount Congreve are keen to continue building upon the estate renovations that are currently underway and to make further enhancements in order to continually raise the standards of the gardens and the wider estate. Planned are the addition of 2 new exhibitions, the restoration of the Chinese Pagoda, the Rock Waterfall and the completion of the current restoration of the Walled Gardens along with completing the restoration works at the Georgian Glasshouses of 1844 while also completing the new visitor car park opposite Mount Congreve House.

A plan for improving Greenway access and improving the pathways to offer greater accessibility for visitors across the entire estate is in place.  An addition of adventure activities to the estate will attract new market segments and broadening the marketing budget in order to highlight and drive further consumer awareness amongst those identified key target segments is also planned.

It is also part of the vision of the Mount Congreve Gardens team to build further upon its award wins and success to drive further growth in the visitor market while also crucially driving a longer dwell time for those visitors who come to stay in Waterford; who visit not only Mount Congreve Gardens but the variety of visitor attractions and dining options all across the city and county.

In addition to the restoration and garden works, it is proposed that new holiday accommodation is added. Sara outlined that Mount Congreve Gardens would like to add 10 eco forest cabins to the estate and renovate 2 lodges and 5 apartments on the estate. This comes on the back of the great success that the main gate lodge has enjoyed since its opening to visitors for holiday breaks at Mount Congreve last April, with visitors from all over the world coming to stay, it has enjoyed a 99% occupancy level. 

Sara says, “We are delighted with the great success that 2023 has been for Mount Congreve Gardens, even despite the challenging tourism market right now. It is with the backing of Waterford City and County Council that the estate was in a position to secure European development funding which formed the backbone of the restorations at Mount Congreve to date. It is evident in the commercial side of the business and the visitor numbers that this investment is reaping the rewards for the estate and for Waterford. Mount Congreve Trust would like to fully capitalise on this growth with further enhancements and restoration works at the house and within the gardens, with financial support of €1.2 million from Waterford City and County Council.”

“Mount Congreve is lauded as a ‘great garden of the world’ and the title is certainly fitting at this incredible 70 acres of woodland gardens and 4 acres of walled gardens within the 140-acre estate located 10 minutes outside of Ireland’s oldest City of Waterford. It is a destination where visitors will not be short of things to see and do with the award-winning Waterford Treasures collection of museums available to explore along with Mount Congreve Gardens also offering direct access to the Waterford Greenway. Our stunning coastline to the South and the Comeragh Mountain range frame a picture of a great holiday destination. We look forward to shining a brighter light on Waterford within the international visitor market throughout 2024.” Sara concluded.

For further details on Mount Congreve Gardens see www.mountcongreve.com