Wicklow – Journeys of Heart and Mind

Image of the day – 39

Most of these old houses and their gardens are now enjoyed by much larger numbers of visitors than the original owners could possibly have imagined.

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What’s in an image? Sometimes quite a lot, more than meets the eye.

I’m posting an image every day (or as often as I can). A photo, an image from the internet, a diagram or a map. Whatever takes my fancy.

National Geographic rated this as the third best garden in the World. It’s Powerscourt Gardens in Wicklow, Ireland. National Geographic is right, this is a very fine garden indeed. It’s spacious, well designed, full of interesting plants and landscape features, and very well maintained. We did spot a few small weeds here and there, but not very many; keeping a garden this large will require a lot of dedicated gardeners, either volunteers or paid staff (probably both). Most of the work has to be done manually, it will not be a cheap operation!

Of course, ordinary everyday people can’t manage a huge garden like this, nor afford to build a house as large as Powerscourt. A very tiny minority of the population could build and live in this kind of luxury either then or now. And even among the very wealthy, not everyone wants to.

But time moves on, and most of these old houses and their gardens are now enjoyed by much larger numbers of visitors than the original owners could possibly have imagined. Perhaps they’d have been horrified! But I, for one, am grateful for their beautiful legacies that I can visit and enjoy.

I have a final question for you, dear reader, and for myself too. What will you leave as a legacy for future generations? And what will I leave? Why not leave your thoughts below in a comment? There are no right or wrong answers.

Images from our Irish holiday 2024

For convenience, here’s a list of all the Irish holiday images:

28th Jul – Welsh Botanic Garden, Robin, Fishguard
29th Jul – Wicklow Mts, Glendalough, Powerscourt, Rose, Greystones
30th Jul – Liffey, Temple Bar, St Patrick’s Cathedral
31st Jul – Newgrange, Battle of the Boyne
1st Aug – Monasterboice, Mourne, Thrift, Window
2nd Aug – Spelga Dam, Hydrangea, Pipework, Lough Neagh
3rd Aug – Coagh, Springhill, Portrush
4th Aug – Beach at Portrush
5th Aug – Giant’s Causeway, Carrick-a-Rede, Portrush

Themed image collections

The links below will take you to the first post in each collection

Cirencester, Favourites, Irish holiday 2024, Roman villa

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Image of the day – 38

It’s good to imagine the hustle and bustle of the monks as they tended the farm, milled wheat for flour, [and] baked their bread.

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What’s in an image? Sometimes quite a lot, more than meets the eye.

I’m posting an image every day (or as often as I can). A photo, an image from the internet, a diagram or a map. Whatever takes my fancy.

This is the ancient monastery of Glendalough. (Glen da lough – da means two, so the ‘Valley of two lakes’.) The aerial shot was taken from a helicopter in the early twelfth century, showing the thriving monastery with many stone structures, and the round tower in the upper-left corner. This is, of course, a modern model of how the settlement may have appeared, but it absolutely looks like the real thing and it’s easy to imagine flying over the scenery.

Very little remains, though the tower is still complete and some of the ruins are quite impressive (especially the cathedral and the gateway). The site is still in use as a graveyard. The museum nearby is informative and beautifully presented, well worth a thorough visit.

I’m always intrigued by the ruins of once-inhabited places. It’s good to imagine the hustle and bustle of the monks as they tended the farm, milled wheat for flour, baked their bread, and carried out all the other tasks – blacksmithing, building, making repairs, fetching water, weaving – everything it took to survive here. And then, the contemplation and prayer, the worship and copying of illuminated manuscripts: nothing would have been done unless other tasks were done first. No writing without preparing vellum, making inks, fashioning pens – you couldn’t just pop down to the shops!

If you ever have a chance to visit Glendalough, don’t hesitate!