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My ideal Sundays are usually made up of a huge, lazy, breakfast which drags on over an hour or so with many pots of tea, more food than a personal really needs and losing ones self in the Sunday Papers. Ideally there would be an open fire and a big, comfy sofa to settle into too. Especially in the middle of winter, when Dublin is usually little more than icy cold, windy & grey. Comfort is king on Sundays.

However, one Sunday a couple of weeks ago, I managed to drag myself out of the house on a typical bleak mid-winters day to go on the first outing of Peter’s band of merry men, aka The Garden Group. And I was really glad I did as well.

The Garden Group’s inaugural trip was to the National War Memorial Gardens in Islandbridge. A genuine hidden treasure, it’s a really lovely place, which I had no idea even existed (which is the way with hidden treasures); overshadowed as it is by Phoenix Park, which is directly opposite, across the Liffey.

We were given a really inciteful tour around the entire park & gardens by the lovely, and might I add ca-yute, Craig. This is what made the whole trip really interesting, to my mind anyway (the incites people, not Craig!). I’m a bit of a history geek and I’ll happily admit to having somewhat of a nerd-on throughout the visit.

For such a tucked-away, almost secret, and comparably small park, there was so much to take in, I was really bowled over. The design of the park is symmetrical throughout, right down to how the roses are planted in the sunken gardens and the various paths, or more accurately, the avenues.

The highlight for me was learning all about the symbolism that was weaved into the design of the park, from the water fountains which look almost like candles and sit either side of a large stone “alter”. One of the things that I really loved was the trees planted along the main avenue which represented the foot soldiers of the 16th Irish Division – 8 lime trees planted either side, making 16 in total; which are overlooked by 8 holly trees, representing the Generals, standing a tier above.

I could go on and on about it all day (and indeed did at one point… this post was going to be about 17 times the length it is) as there was a story to every area of the park, which fascinated me.

One thing that was disappointing though was that it was February and therefore there wasn’t much colour in the park – not the park’s fault, but the climate really. What it does mean though is that I will definitely be going back to check out the huge range of cherry trees when they bloom in a few weeks and then again in June/July to check out the sunken rose gardens in all their glory.

I loved finding this little pocket of greenery so close to the city centre and it is officially going to be my picnic spot of choice from now on. I’m also seriously looking forward to what the next Garden Group outing might be. Rumour has it the next one’s going to be a corker!

Have a nosey for yourself if you get chance. In the meantime here are some pics that Peter took, which frankly do it infinitely more justice than I was able to do with my crappy iPhone camera. And there are also some extra special ones over on Jenny’s blog too.

oh yeah, here’s one of Craig, for the ladies

Oh yeah… here’s a picture of Peter (that John took) as well. He’s also cute!

Roide!