Bantry House & Garden

Bantry House has overlooked Bantry Bay from its terraced hillside since the mid-18th century, when the White family — later Earls of Bantry — assembled a remarkable collection of Flemish tapestries, Russian icons, Pompeian mosaic floors and Continental furniture from their European travels. The house remained in the White family and is still lived in, which gives it a quality of inhabitation — lived-in clutter, personal photographs alongside old masters — that distinguishes it from the formal museum-house experience.

The gardens are the visual heart of Bantry House. Seven Italian terraces descend from the house to the water's edge, with Bantry Bay and the Caha Mountains as a backdrop. The view from the upper terrace — looking down through the formal garden to the bay — is one of the great garden vistas in Ireland. The rose garden, the boxwood parterres and the walled kitchen garden are all maintained and worth exploring.

The Bantry French Armada Exhibition Centre, housed in the stables, tells the story of the 1796 French Armada — Wolfe Tone's failed attempt to land a French force of 15,000 troops in Bantry Bay to support the United Irish rebellion. The bay was full of French ships for three days; a combination of storms and indecision prevented a landing. The frigate La Surveillante, sunk in the bay, has been partially excavated and is interpreted in the exhibition.