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seasonal · Sunday 16 August 2026 · 10:00am 
End of Summer Garden Party at Killruddery
At The Gardens, Killruddery House · Southern Cross, Bray, Co. Wicklow
At The Gardens, Killruddery House · Southern Cross, Bray, Co. Wicklow
Killruddery House marks the turn of the season with its End of Summer Garden Party, known as Last of the Summer Fling, on Sunday, 16 August 2026 from 10am to 3pm. The event is built around slowing down rather than a packed schedule, an invitation to picnic and play lawn games in the 17th-century gardens as the long days of summer start to shorten. It is aimed squarely at families, with a teddy bears’ picnic and a toy hospital alongside the more traditional garden games, and runs rain or shine across the estate’s formal gardens.
Visitors can bring their own picnic or buy food on site, and spend the afternoon on traditional lawn games including welly throwing and croquet across the gardens. Children have their own dedicated activities: a teddy bears’ picnic, and a toy repair station in the Orangery where soft toys can be left with volunteer “nurses” while the family carries on around the grounds, raising funds for the children’s charity Barretstown. Alive Outside runs a bubble football session for older children and teenagers who want something more physical than a picnic blanket. The pace is deliberately unhurried, styled as one last long garden afternoon before autumn, rather than a festival with a fixed programme of acts or stages.
Killruddery is just south of Bray off the R761, a five-minute drive or a longer walk from Bray town centre and Bray DART station. Free parking is available on site for the event, sign-posted from the main road into the estate.
Killruddery sits at the edge of Bray, close to Bray Head and the seafront, so the garden party works well paired with a walk along the promenade before or after. There is more to see in Bray and across Co. Wicklow.
Heading to The Gardens, Killruddery House in Bray? Wicklow has plenty more to see. Read the Bray area guide, find what else is on, and explore the towns and villages nearby.
In town for The Gardens, Killruddery House? These Wicklow tours book out in summer.