Clonegal& Kildavin
PRIDE OF PLACE
Judging day for the National Pride of Place is finally here. You are invited to join the community of Clonegal to celebrate the Pride of Place All-Island Competition. The day begins at 10 a.m. in St Brigid’s Community Hall and after a 20-minute presentation the Judges will begin their walkabout. In the following order they will visit: St Brigid’s Church, St Brigid’s School, St Fiaac’s Church, Valley View, St Brigid’s Terrace, Wicklow Way Park, the Weavers’ Cottages, the Ball Alley, Watch House and finally Huntington Castle. There will be entertainment on the route and ending with fun, Food and Festivities in Huntington Castle. All are most welcome, come along and enjoy the celebrations. The committee and Carlow County Council will look forward to seeing you all on Thursday what is promised to a fun.
GAA GET TOGETHER
If your passion is to discuss how our national games are played now or in the past. If you have views on how the games are managed, competitions organised and players perform at club or county level or if you are a current or former player, a current or former member of a GAA club or if you simply love to watch your favourite team, now or in the past on the side-line or on the couch in front of the telly the place to be is Conway’s Kildavin on Friday, October 19, at 8 p.m. For €20 you can enjoy a meal and the company of people who share your interest. You will have the opportunity to share your memories and express your hopes at this most unique of get-togethers of GAA people. You are guaranteed not to be among strangers. For further information, contact Christy O’Neill 087 1378569, George Coleman 087 2501105 or Tom Doyle 087 9110555.
CEMETERY MASSES
Many thanks to everyone who prepared for the celebration of the Cemetery Masses in Kildavin and Clonegal. Thank you to all who prepared their graves and the cemetery, those who made preparations for the Mass, prepared the Altar, arranged the amplification, prepared the music, ministers of the Word and ministers of the Eucharist.
CARLOW GARDEN FESTIVAL
Saturday, July 28 – Leonie Cornelius at Huntington Castle and Gardens Garden Tour. Enjoy a stroll through garden history with award-winning garden designer and author Leonie Cornelius as your guide. The magnificent gardens are still owned and cared for by the family who laid out the formal areas in the 1680s, and have planted many fine specimen trees over the centuries. Explore the parterres, the ancient Yew Walk, ‘Wilderness’ woodland, the kitchen gardens, the Italian Gardens and the recently restored Rose Gardens. Experience a house tour escorted by a member of the Durdin- Robertson family whose ancestry stretches all the way back to the original owners. The tour features the world famous Temple of the Goddess in the castle dungeons and is a key attraction in Ireland’s Ancient East. Time: midday. Admission: €5 – no pre-booking required.
Saturday, August 4 – Garden tour and tree trail Huntington Castle. Dermot O’Neill, with us each year by popular demand since the start of the Carlow Garden Festival back in 2002, visits Huntington Castle for a garden tour taking in the many delights of this attraction, from the 17th century parterres to the ancient Yew Walk, the ‘Wilderness’ woodland, the kitchen gardens, the Greenhouse and the recently restored Rose Gardens. Time: 3 p.m. Admission: €5 – no pre-booking required. Tea rooms open for tea, coffee and light snacks. Castle tours (2 p.m. to 5 p.m. admission fee applies). Children’s playground available. For more information, please contact 053 9377160 w: huntingtoncastle.com.
Monday, July 30 – Fionnuala Fallon at the Meadows. It is fitting that the exceptionally talented Fionnuala Fallon, Irish Times gardening correspondent, leads this tour around the garden of the great artist and painter Philippa Bayliss. The concept for this garden was based largely on 17th century Chinese landscape paintings so you can expect lots of jagged rocks, planting between rocks and into gravel, small trees and a recently installed stunning sculpture of a seed head. Visitors are promised lots of ideas that can be recreated in different contexts in a small space of a ¼ acre. Venue: No. Seven, The Meadows, Myshall. Time: 3 p.m. Admission: €5 – no pre-booking required. For more information, please contact 059 9157530 or philippabayliss.com.
Tuesday, July 31 – Cormac Downey at Altamont Gardens, garden tree trail and tour. This walking tour of Altamont Gardens is led by Cormac Downey, OPW tree officer. This tour promises to be an exciting journey through a historic setting with its fine plant collections, Robinsonian style landscapes, man-made lake and the ancient oak woodland and will take in other magnificent specimens of trees to be found at Altamont Gardens. So why not take a journey back in time in this tranquil old world setting and experience one of the most magical gardens in Ireland. Venue: Altamont Gardens, Tullow, at 11 a.m. Admission is free. Car park fee of €2 applies. No pre-booking required.
Friday, August 3 – Chris Beardshaw and Fergus Garrett at Altamont Plant Sales. Chris will give an illustrated talk which looks at creating floral rewards with less effort. Inspired by traditional herbaceous borders but with the aim of reducing the inputs and looking for a new style. It uses examples from Chris’ own schemes such as Ness Botanics. Chris, who is a natural and very fluent speaker will also weave in stories from his bestselling book 100 Plants that Almost Changed the World and will be happy to take questions from the audience. Fergus will teach his audience how to combine plants considering sense of place, colour, shape, texture and repetition. He will give examples of how to contrast one plant with another, adding punctuation in a border as well as creating intimacy and movement and balance. Examples will be primarily from Great Dixter as well as a few from other gardens. Venue: Altamont Plant Sales, Tullow, Co. Carlow, at midday and 3 p.m. Admission: €35. Tickets from: carlowgardentrail.com or Robert Miller at 087 9822135 or Carlow Tourism at 059 913041.