Diarmuid Gavin: Hazelbank Park is a jewel in Northern Ireland’s crown, a garden fit for a king and queen

Heading north this summer? Don’t miss this majestic new garden in Newtownabbey

Hazelbank Park. Photo by Richard Hatch

Diarmuid Gavin

A couple of weeks ago, the gates of a new garden at Hazelbank Park in Newtownabbey, Northern Ireland, were opened to the public. For all involved, it was a hugely exciting moment, revealing a garden that had been in the planning and planting for the last six months.

It all came about at the completion of last year’s garden in the borough, Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth’s Jubilee Clockwork Garden. Since lockdown I’ve abandoned my treks across the world and made a conscious decision to garden closer to home. Antrim and Newtownabbey are just two-and-a-half hours from my garden in Wicklow and on my very regular trips there last year, I realised what a special place it was.