The Chocolate Box Scene at The Bay Garden

The lie of the land brings you there; the footpaths through the dappled shade of the woodland garden lead you there; the light ahead on the shady walks tell you that there is something ahead and, though I have gone there many times, it still comes as a surprise and a delight. It is always …

The Perfect Spot!

When we visit other gardens we sometimes find that perfect spot, that part of the garden that we would love to wrap up and bring home with us. It is the part of the garden to which we are always drawn when we visit and it feels as though we are returning to see an …

‘Tis an Ill Sun…

We would usually say that “It’s an ill wind that blows nobody any good”, a saying dating back to the 16th century at least and meaning that the wind which might be bad for one person may well be good for another – a nautical saying in its origins. The saying has been changed by …

Pay Me in Tulips!

Tulips are the new currency it would seem! So, Frances McDonald explained to us this morning when we visited her in her garden, The Bay, just north of Ferns in Co. Wexford. Over the past weeks I had seen mention of Frances and Iain’s Tulip Extravaganza at the garden but only yesterday spotted that Frances …

The Bay Garden – Always a Delight

Domesticity of scale adds to the winning charm of The Bay Garden in Ferns, Co. Wexford, the garden of Iain and Frances McDonald.  Although a reasonably large garden by today’s norms it is experienced in a series of relatively small stages so that the visitor takes in the garden at a gradual and comfortable pace …