Al-Fresco

It would have been nice to stroll around Mount Usher Gardens, Ashford, Co Wicklow after all the snow but they're not open in the winter, so this photo was shot through the window of their Avoca Garden Café which is open all year round although I'm not sure I'd take up their offer of al-fresco dining just at the moment!

The Cliff Walk

 

This inviting seat along the Cliff Walk in Devil's Glen wood is inscribed with a verse of old Irish poetry translated by the Nobel Prize winning poet, Seamus Heaney.  A nice spot to rest and contemplate the poignant decay of autumn while awaiting the first signs of approaching winter.

Back In The Wood

Or, more precisely, back in Devil's Glen Wood, outside Ashford, Co Wicklow to take a look at another of the artists featured in the Sculpture In Woodland project formed in 1994 with the aim of creating a greater awareness of wood as an artistic and functional medium - this was explained in more detail in this earlier post.

Today it's the turn of Portugese sculptor Alberto Carneiro and his featured work in Douglas fir - Woodland Mandala.

Devil's Glen Wood

Today, we are in the spectacular Devil's Glen Wood, Ashford, Co Wicklow, for the first of a couple of visits. The Devil's Glen Wood, site of the Sculpture in Woodland project, is owned by Coillte, basically a government controlled company, whose core purpose, quoting from their website, "is to enrich lives locally, nationally and globally through the innovative and sustainable management of natural resources."  They own 7% of the land cover of Ireland!   Above is part of Canadian artist Kat O'Brien's Seven Shrines installation.

 
The site was once part of the Glanmore estate, former ancestral home of John Millington Synge. The Sculpture in Woodland project was formed in 1994 with the aim of creating a greater awareness of wood as an artistic and functional medium. Creative artists are facilitated in responding in new ways to the natural environment; in return the artists give the community a rich and diverse range of work, situated in an environment that is very different to a traditional gallery space. Artists are commissioned on an annual basis and to date seventeen sculptures, by both Irish and international artists, have been permanently sited in the Devil's Glen.

Left, and below Chago by French artist Jacques Bosser.

It's now 16 years since the project was started and all around the site is evidence of the effect  of the passage of time where many of the sculptures have gradually deteriorated and will eventually give themselves back to their natural surroundings.

Mount Usher Gardens Again

Back in Mount Usher Gardens, Ashford, Co Wicklow which is open from March to end of October and is home to a collection of more than 5,000 trees and shrubs.

In the latter part of the 19th century, there was a great fashion for importing exotic plant species from all parts of the globe and, thanks to the more naturalistic approach to planting here in Mount Usher, they are displayed in what seems like their native habitat.

The gardens started in the 1860's when Edward Walpole took over the lease and was developed over two further generations until taken over by Mrs Madeleine Jay in 1980 who insisted on gardening all 22 acres entirely organically and, since 2007, is now run by Avoca, the Irish retail company.

Several different walks and paths around the gardens are suggested and depend very much on the time one has to spare - the Woodland Garden and The Island are rather special and have many interesting specimens - and it's somewhere to revisit as the seasons change, spring with the 150 different species of rhododendrons and azaleas, lilies and Eucryphia in summer and, of course, the spectacular colours of autumn.

Mount Usher Gardens

This visit to Mount Usher Gardens, Ashord, Co Wicklow is one post I just had to fit in before Autumn was over, but even so, Spring, Summer and Autumn each would have their different attractions in these wonderful 22 acres of gardens laid out in the Robinsonian style of free flowing informality and natural design on the banks of the Vartry River.

Time for quiet contemplation in this area pictured left which is not in the gardens - this is the garden cafe open area, outside!

 

Careful on the suspension bridges, as you take in the waterfalls and views along the garden stretch of the Vartry River.

Pretty Purlllllease!

Is this the prettiest shop in Ashford, Co Wicklow?  Probably, but just ignore the reflective snapper/blogger!
 

This is the first post of an occasional series featuring interesting/pretty shop fronts found on our wanderings around the county.