Mount Stewart is one of the most spectacular gardens of Western Europe and universally renowned for the’extraordinary scope of its plant collections and the originality of its features. It was created within an old demesne on the shores of Strangtord Lough, whose parkland trees and shelter belts were established for the 1782-83 house. A celebrated garden building, the Temple of the Winds, was added to the parkland in 1782-83 and the house was enlarged to designs of Dance in 1804, and by Morrison in the 1830S. The main focus of the nominated area, the gardens, occupies about 80 acres to the north and west of the house. An olive was brought from the Garden of Gethsemene!
The gardens comprise both formal and informal areas, each with its own style and atmosphere. The formal gardens surrounding the house include the Sunk Garden, designed by Gertrude Jekyll, the Italian garden, based on a parterre at Dunrobin Castle, the Maiori Garden, which is a blue and white creation and the Dodo Terrace, whose statuary of creatures adds a touch of humour in that the beasts represent family friends and political figures who belonged to the Ark Club during World War I. The Spanish Garden is noted for its loggia on axis with the house and its arches of Monterey cypress, while the Shamrock Garden incorporates much topiary.
The home includes the magnificent Stubbs masterpiece ‘Hambletonian’, perhaps the most important picture in any Irish country house. The house is also noted for its great central hall and dining room, the latter containing the chairs used by delegates to the Congress of Vienna in 1815. Also included within the nominated site is the Temple of the Winds, which is located on a hilltop south of the house, commanding fabulous views of Strangford Lough and the Mourne Mountains beyond. Generally recognised as one of the finest Greek-revival buildings of the late 15th century, it is an octagonal banqueting house and belvedere, designed by James Athenian Stuart in 1782-83 and based on the Tower of the Winds in Athens.