Powerscourt Estate Awarded Ireland’s Ancient East Funding
Powerscourt Estate is grateful to receive this very welcome funding to assist with the further development of the interpretative experience at Powerscourt House and Gardens.
Sarah Slazenger, Managing Director of Powerscourt Estate said: “This funding will allow us to create a deeper and more engaging experience for our visitors and bring to life the characters and stories from Powerscourt’s 800 years of rich and exciting history. In particular we want tell the stories of the visionary people who developed Powerscourt and provide our visitors with an unforgetable experience at Ireland’s most beautiful and intriguing country estate.”
We are entirely reliant on funds generated from visitors to ensure the estate continues to prosper as a sustainable tourism destination, attracting visitors to Ireland’s Ancient East into the future. Powerscourt already attracts over 500,000 visitors each year into the region and visitor numbers to the gardens from both the US and China have risen by 49% and 39% respectively in the past year alone. Our dynamic and multilingual interpretive experience will help further grow our visitor numbers and have a positive knock on effect for other businesses in the South East.”
Set in the wild Wicklow countryside overlooking the Sugarloaf Mountain, Powerscourt enjoys a breath-taking panorama. The Gardens stretch over 47 acres and offer visitors a sublime blend of formal gardens, sweeping terraces, statues and ornamental lakes, secret hollows and rambling walks.
Over the last 25 years the Slazenger family have built Powerscourt into a substantial tourism and leisure business that now employs over 350 people. The Powerscourt brand is associated with a distinct heritage, elegance and timelessness. Also located within the Powerscourt Estate are two championship Golf Courses, Ireland’s Highest Waterfall and the Five Star Powerscourt Hotel.
Recent accolades include No.3 in the World’s Top Ten Gardens by National Geographic, inclusion in the Top Ten Houses in the World by Lonely Planet, the Best Parkland Venue in Ireland 2014 Award (Powerscourt Golf Club, Golfer’s Guide to Ireland) and the 2015 Certificate of Excellence from Trip Advisor (Powerscourt Gardens).
Fáilte Ireland’s ‘New ideas in Ancient Spaces’ Capital Grants Scheme launched last April as part of Fáilte Ireland’s latest tourism initiative Ireland’s Ancient East which seeks to build on the wealth of historical and cultural assets in the east and south of Ireland. The new initiative seeks to give visitors a personal experience of 5000 years of Irish history through a journey of discovery stretching from Carlingford to Cork and is intended to match and complement the Wild Atlantic Way in terms of scale and ambition.
