Five great houses and gardens of Ireland to visit this summer

Stately homes tell architectural stories and whisper the tales of former residents, from gossip of sculleries to gilded ballrooms

So grand, so gorgeous: Johnstown Castle is managed by the Irish Heritage Trust.

Every trip out on a lazy weekend in Ireland provides a stroll through history. Gazing over 19th-century rooftops across the streets of Cork, spotting shattered medieval tower houses bedded on rumpled fields on the train, our built heritage is everywhere. 

In the 18th century as artillery continued to demonstrate its ability to reconfigure the deepest castle walls, the brooding, stone defences the aristocracy and gentry had used to shield their homes were gradually taken down in favour of something more welcoming, light-drenched, fanciful and above all fashionable.