I Suppose That’s It Now Until February!

We were very much in that Carpe Diem frame of mind all of last week. There had been a long run of bad weather with particularly high rainfall and strong winds so that there had been many days spent indoors and cabin fever was beginning to set in. Because of this we had determined that we would jump into the car and head off for a garden visit at the first opportunity presented. Friday was the day, an out of sequence pleasant day with bright skies and, more importantly, no rain and no wind. We were off!

A few teaser images:

We had two gardens in mind for this excursion, Mount Usher in Co. Wicklow or Altamont in Co. Carlow. Altamont is considerably nearer and, perhaps because our ambitions had been tempered by our long confinement, we opted for Altamont, a little over an hour away, and we weren’t disappointed.

The main garden and around the lake at Altamont Gardens:

Altamont is a rare example among gardens which have passed from private – the late Mrs. Corona North, to state ownership – the Office of Public Works – for it has retained that atmosphere of the private garden, the style and domesticity of its owner, rather than becoming institutionalised into the corporate image of the large organisation. It still has the feel of the family rather than the state garden. We have visited regularly over the past forty years and will continue to do so though, I imagine, our next visit will be in February next when the snowdrops will be in full show, a display for which the gardens have earned a deserved reputation.

The main drive to the house looked particularly beautiful as the beech trees were in their autumn colours:

Advertisement