Go walking in the garden at night

Go walking in the garden at night at Mount Stewart in Co. Down, holding its Festival of Light for a second year after last year's event was hailed as the light show of the decade.

Hundreds of trees around the lake are illuminated in vivid colours and animated light displays, bringing the woodland brilliantly to life. Designed by award-winning light-meister Walter Holt, from Magherafelt in Co. Londonderry, the display took a year to plan and setting it up takes several days.

You can create your own garden light festival - perhaps not on a Mount Stewart scale, but still bringing your garden to breathtaking life at night. You'll find all you need at our garden centre here in Co. Limerick, from uplighters for trees to solar-powered balls for illuminating choice plants in the border.

The effects you can get are only limited by your imagination. Highlight architectural plants and trees with  uplighters through the canopy, or create a magical atmosphere with soft, low level lighting. Bamboo throws sculptural silhouettes onto walls when lit; and underwater lighting creates a mesmerising light effect which ripples across nearby walls and plants.

Mount Stewart's Festival of Light takes place every weekend until 16 November. For more details visit www.nationaltrust.org.uk/mount-stewart.