So much to explore

Let me bring you on a journey through Brigit's garden, a hidden gem on the outskirts of Galway. In fact it's a bit beyond the outskirts and is just past the parish of Roscahill and is situated in Killanin. As you step out into the gardens, you can quickly see why Brigit‘s Garden is regarded as one of the most picturesque gardens of Ireland.

The cacophony of smells and kaleidoscope of colour is apparent from the outset and it is clear that this garden and cafe are the brainchild of someone with an artistic touch and a deep understanding and appreciation of Celtic traditions. Here is the map that you are greeted with as you arrive to the gardens.

We arrived hungry, so our first priority was ordering some food, which I remembered from before as being authentic and very tasty. We were not disappointed and once again the food was sublime. Our three sons opted for the ham and cheese Quesidilla, my wife got the Mezze bowl and I opted for the Sullivan sourdough toastie with free range chicken, sun dried tomato pesto, Emental and red onion, with a side of potato wedges. All of the food was amazing and I can ssy with hand on heart that these were the nicest potato wedges that I've ever tasted bar none. The menu is quite limited, but that's not always a bad thing.

Themed Gardens

There is a central theme running through the gardens that incorporates the four celtic seasons of Samhain, Beltane, Imbolg and Lughnasadh and Brigit who the gardens are obviously named after. As I walked around here with my family, I thought about @trucklife-family, who I reckon would love it here with her two daugters. I know how much she admires Brigit and Celtic culture in general, so I imagine the three of them would have a fantastic day here.

Brigit's Garden is one of a kind and brings you on a type of quest into the very heart of old Irish heritage and mythology, "making it one of the truly outstanding family-friendly places to visit in the West of Ireland", a qoute that I would fully agree with I must day.

Fairy trails, rings of trees, Cranógs, swing chairs and much much more dot the 11 acres of native woodland anf wildflower meadows. Add to this the Camera Obscura, Ireland's largest sundial and a brilliant cafe and giftshop, and you start to appreciate all this place has to offer. The staff are also brilliant, which is the jewel in the crown of an already great day out.

Cranóg

Below is a Cranóg, which was a type of dwelling place in Ireland and Scotland during the iron age. These one room houses would have housed whole families.

The Cranóg would typically have a fire in the middle of the room called the hearth, which would have been constantly lit for heat and cooking. The roof is made of thatch and you still see some houses in Ireland made from this material on their roofs, but I imagine they must be near impossible to get insurance for, as they would be such fire risks.

Camera Obscura

There were so many cool things dotted around Brigit's garden, but I think my favorite was the camera Obscura. So basically you have the odd shaped metal room that you go inside of. The light is allowed through a hole in the roof and using some mirrors it picks up an image of a bench around 10 metres away from the room outside.

Some of the family go inside the room and the others sit on the bench outside. Those inside the room see an image of those outside beamed onto the wall upside down. It's really cool and demonstrated to the kids the principle upon which cameras are designed. No moving parts or technology here, just mirrors, darkness, a white wall and light. It's really cool I must say. The image is really clear but didn't come out to well in these photos, although herself will be happy enough to not be visible on Hive!

Ireland's Largest Sun dial

Brigit's Garden also boasted Ireland's largest sun dial. The sun shines and casts a shadow on the stone to tell us what time it is. This particular sun dial also builds in seasonal variations and is really impressive.

This is worthy of a series of photos in my opinion, so here we go:

The dial's hand is a piece of ancient bog oak which is thousands of years old. It would have fallen around the time of Christ, but was conserved by the tanic acid present in the bog and was dug out by a farmer at some stage in the last fifty years and carved into this sundial hand.

Nature's magnifying glass

Yet another cool idea were this set of nature magnifying glasses. The kids can either zoom in on the eco system below or bring a leave or a twig or the likes in for closer inspection.

Our middle son, who is six years old really liked this one and spent a good bit of time bringing all manner of things up for a good close up.

No worries

Another of my favourites and again such a simple concept. Place your hand on the handprint and hand away your worries. I hope that my boys don't have too many worries, but if they had hopefully they handed them away here.

Great for the kids

After paying the admission and getting our map of the site, the boys were given a type of treasure map to check for different sights around the gardens. They were also promised a treat if they returned their pencils at the end.

The treasure maps went down a treat and the boys really enjoyed getting involved, although all of that fun was trumped at the end when they handed back their pencils and received a lollypop each and a sticker. It's little things that matter, and Brigit's garden gets all of these little things right for me.

As well as the map to follow with things to find for the kids above, there is so much more for the little ones too including a fairy garden, the camera obscura, a water table area, a water wheel which they can turn, which you'll see below, a play ground and much more.

Sustainability

One can't talk about nature these days without talking too about Sustainability and Brigit's garden does it's bit here too, not only teaching people about the importance of Sustainability but also putting their money where their mouth is.

These solar panels supply around 80% of the power needs for the gardens, the gift shop and the cafe, which is great to hear about.

The Wishing Trees

Then just when you think that they have thought of everything at Brigit's garden, they surprise you with another great idea and beautiful initiative.

Here you can hang a wish on a branch or offer a worry up to nature. As you can see from the trees in the background of the photos, this one is very popular with visitors and we all made a wish here ourselves.

Just look at all the wishes hanging from the tree in the summer garden. Simply magnificent.

Brigit

These Gardens are named after Ireland's Brigit and there are nods to her everywhere you go around the site. I have shared a few of these below for your viewing pleasure.

First we have sculpture of the legend herself below.

Next we have a few different types of Brigits cross. You'll find these in almost every house in Ireland, including mine.

This is a beautiful painting of the famous Irish redhead Brigit.

Finally we have this lovely poem about Brigit.

Hanging basket chairs

These were a huge hit with all the family and we spent a good while here hanging out. We could have done with one more, so that we'd have one for all of the family, so little legs had to sit on my knee.

More photos from the gardens

A walk through the four Gardens takes you on a journey through the Celtic cycle of the seasons, each garden representing one of the Celtic festivals of Samhain, Imbolc, Bealtaine and Lughnasa. This seasonal cycle mirrors the cycle of life from conception to old age and death.

Here are the best of the rest from around these Gardens. Should you ever make it to Galway, be sure to nclude this gorgeous place on your itinerary, especially if you have kids.

These are all original photos captured by me on my Samsung Smartphone

Thanks as always for stopping by everyone.

Peace Out