Now 2013, at the beginning of season 4 and with an average of 4 gigs per year, all done free gratis, there begins another fine season for the outdoors happy heads.
All I should add, with very huge thanks to you* for coming along and equally to those who offered me sites, gardens and their time whilst we the garden group was visiting there.
At the time I also noted the characteristics I felt you needed:
an ability to smile
a likening for the colour green in any shape or form
any knowledge of horticulture or gardening was very much optional
Of note maybe, previous rambles have included Ireland Eye, The War Memorial Gardens, Sonairte Ecology Centre, Corkagh Park and Rathbeggan Lakes, to name just a few. Should you have a suggestion, own or know of a place were where the garden group could go or visit…. you might drop me a line. Details below. In the meantime….
Details: We will have a personal guide for the tour of this wonderful estate….
Numbers: 20 maximum.
Booking: Leave a comment below saying ‘I’m in’ and you’re good
With thanks to: South Dublin County Council
What is The Non Gardeners Group:
A fine and dandy day out in the great outdoors. Here you may choose to hold hands, or not, point at trees, listen and learn or quite simply smile and laugh with your nearest or dearest should you choose to bring them with you. The horticulture bit you may ask ? That’s optional but, should you choose to ask them questions – I and a host of others will be there and the information on tap. All of the great bits of green and horticulture – except in a pair of jeans and a t-shirt [if thats what you like to wear ].
Sonairte is the type of place I like to go as a horticulturist. As a green minded person, it’s also where I go with my daughter, as a Father; horticultural qualifications not worn on my sleeve, on them days.
There’s something periodic table of the elements type simplistic about solar-powered reflector satellite slow cooking, frogs as a method of pest control and bicycle powered electricity. Kermits favourite colour aside, the setting, even when it’s not a glorious day at Sonairte, is absolutely stunning.
The Garden Group in short: There’s no membership, there are no costs and it attracts more non gardeners than botanists. A bit different, you may say. I kind of like it that way, though some say it’s very silly of me. We’ll see… but for the now, it’s all good.
Sonairte may be many things imperfect to some, you’ll understand what I mean if you go there. That, that imperfectness though is allowed at times and here I find it suits this landscape. With your garden in mind, what Sonairte allows you to witness is en mass extremely diverse biodiversity, that in the real world works.
There are elements of Sonairte that also exist in my garden, and vice versa. They are touches that may make my space outdoors appear to some, slightly uncouth maybe, when compared with the ye olde type formal – though they always existed in pre 19th century garden design.
Domestically, garden planning in mind and far more important is that I know it is possible to take a little of the unscrupulous and allow it fit within your space outdoors, for the greater.
From garden feature ideas to growing your own and from the very thought provoking to what maybe, may surprise you to see children smile at, Sonairte really is one of Irelands hidden gems.
On a slight side note, The Sodshow garden radio microphones came along for the garden groups journey and our afternoon out will go to air this Friday and next in 2 parts. There was that much to take in.
A large note of thank you to nice guy and green buddy Trevor Sargent who was our guide for the afternoon. Also to the wonderful volunteers at Sonairte who are and were yet again just lovely. Also and by no means forgetting you who have, may and did come along.
Of Note: The first two images are courtesy genius photographer Jennifer Farley. I highly recommend a browse through her genuinely amazing photographs of the garden groups day out.
Details: Trevor Sargent will be our personal guide for this fantabulous day out.
Numbers: 22 places max. Book by comment only below
New To The Garden Group ?
There’s no membership. It’s very simply people who like the great outdoors with a side order of horticulture, should you ask the question. More ? – see Catgeory Garden Group
Head Honcho, Dave Robinson and his team were nothing but absolutely brilliant, inspirational and genuine lovely people and from the bottom of my heart a huge thank you to all who made the day great for us. To those who came along on the day, you are all very simply lovely people.
Fact: Did you know the compostable toilet at Rathbeggan Lakes [photgraphed below] was officially opened by Mary Robinson ?
For the great outdoors enthusiast, the gardener or the horticulturist no matter the age or level of experience Rathbeggan has something for everyone. I’m looking forward to this Friday’s garden radio show already 😉
To provide the best experiences, we use technologies like cookies to store and/or access device information. Consenting to these technologies will allow us to process data such as browsing behaviour or unique IDs on this site. Not consenting or withdrawing consent, may adversely affect certain features and functions.
Functional
Always active
The technical storage or access is strictly necessary for the legitimate purpose of enabling the use of a specific service explicitly requested by the subscriber or user, or for the sole purpose of carrying out the transmission of a communication over an electronic communications network.
Preferences
The technical storage or access is necessary for the legitimate purpose of storing preferences that are not requested by the subscriber or user.
Statistics
The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for statistical purposes.The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for anonymous statistical purposes. Without a subpoena, voluntary compliance on the part of your Internet Service Provider, or additional records from a third party, information stored or retrieved for this purpose alone cannot usually be used to identify you.
Marketing
The technical storage or access is required to create user profiles to send advertising, or to track the user on a website or across several websites for similar marketing purposes.
].
