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Garden Workshops

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When

Next workshop 14 March 2026

10.30 - 12.30

Ticketing information

See individual workshops for prices.

Member discount available. Book your discounted member ticket online and bring your membership card. 


Separate ticket (advance booking required)

St Patricks Day Gardening Workshop Seed sowing workshop Growing vegetables for the first time Summer propagation Summer bouquets

Please wear sturdy footwear and bring outdoor clothing (applies to all workshops).

Start of the events summary

Join our expert gardeners for a series of unmissable workshops throughout the year. These small group sessions in the idyllic setting of Hillsborough Castle's gardens will teach you hands-on techniques to use at home, from creating a bee-friendly garden to designing the very best hand-tied bouquets.

The workshops take place in the Walled Garden and the surfaces are even. 

St Patricks Day Gardening Workshop

Date: Saturday 14 March 2026
Time: 10:30-12:30 (maximum capacity: 15)
Place: Walled Garden

Price: £45.00 non-members / £35.00 members

Come and join Keeper of the Walled Garden, Daniel Coombes, and the walled garden team as they introduce you to the range of fruit and vegetables being grown this year, and show you how to plant potatoes, prune roses and sow early seed. All tools and equipment supplied. Please wear sturdy footwear and bring outdoor clothing.

Flowers arranged in a hand tied bouquet

Seed sowing workshop

Date: Saturday 11 April 2026
Time: 10:30-12:30 (maximum capacity: 15)
Place: Walled Garden (all materials supplied)

Price: £45.00 non-members / £35.00 members

Join the Walled Garden Team and learn how to sow a range of seeds, annuals and perennials, flowers and vegetables. Get hands on preparing compost, filling seed trays and sowing the seed, ready to take home and germinate.

Growing vegetables for the first time

Date: Saturday 23 May 2026
Time: 10:30-12:30 (maximum capacity: 12)
Place: Walled Garden (all materials supplied)

Price: £45.00 non-members / £35.00 members

Join the Walled Garden Team and learn how to plant out a range of vegetables and flowers in the garden. From preparing the soil, correct spacing and planting depth to getting your lines straight, the team will give you expert guidance.

Summer Propagation - grow your own plants for free

Date: Saturday 18 July 2026
Time: 10:30-12:30 (maximum capacity: 12)
Place: Walled Garden

Price: £45.00 non-members / £35.00 members

Grow your own plants: by the end of the workshop participants will be able to identify suitable plant material to use as propagules, and will be able to select material, prepare and insert cuttings of a variety of plants using different methods, from the plants in the gardens at Hillsborough.

Summer Bouquets

Date: Saturday 04 July, Saturday 08 August and 03 September 2026
Time: 10:30-12:30 (maximum capacity: 15)
Place: Meet in West Pavilion

Price: £55.00 non-members / £45.00 members

Participants will each harvest and condition flowers from the gardens at Hillsborough and create their own handtied bouquet under the instruction of our resident florist Lorna Brownlee.

Explore what's on

  • Things to see

The Gardens

Discover the ornamental lawns, meandering waterways, peaceful woodlands and picturesque glens that surround Hillsborough Castle.

  • In line with gardens opening hours

  • Last entry one hour before closing.
  • Hillsborough Castle
  • Included in all admission tickets (Members go free)
Learn more
  • Things to see
  • Tours and talks

The Castle

Discover elegant State Rooms still used by the royal family inside Hillsborough Castle.

  • In line with castle opening times

  • Hillsborough Castle
  • Included in combined castle tour and gardens tickets (Members go free)
Learn more
  • Exhibition
  • Things to see

Life Through a Royal Lens

A must-see exhibition documenting the British Royal Family's ever-evolving relationship with the camera over the last 200 years.

  • Closed
  • Hillsborough Castle
  • Included in combined castle tour and gardens tickets (Members go free)
Learn more

Browse more history and stories

The story of Hillsborough Castle and Gardens

‘The Grandest House in County Down’

Art at Hillsborough Castle

Hillsborough Castle has become a place in which to see amazing art

Mo Mowlam

A unique Northern Ireland Secretary and Hillsborough Castle resident

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Royal Palace Fine Bone China Collection

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