Ireland day 0565. Sunday 16 April 2023- Sunny demesne *

Ireland day 0565. Sunday 16 April 2023- Sunny demesne

Today’s summary	Went on a walk round the demesne in the morning, then our guests returned from Bray and I drove them to the airport. Val also went to the airport for a later flight to the UK. I seem to have caught a bit of a cold
Today’s weather	Mild, overcast and humid in the morning; brilliant sun and very pleasant in the afternoon. No wind. Appx 15C

Today’s overview location (The blue mark shows the location of our route)		Close-up location (The blue line shows where we walked) (Click button below to download GPX of today’s walk as recorded, or see interactive map at bottom with elevations corrected): Sunny demesne walk

Commentary

(Summary blog only. Last full blog was Day 0368).

Our guests had stayed overnight in Bray after the wedding they were attending, and weren’t due back in Malahide until late afternoon. So Val and I had a leisurely breakfast and then decided to venture out for a quick saunter round the demesne. From the flat, it looked grey and damp outside, so we assumed it would be cold and windy and wrapped up accordingly. But we were surprised to find that actually it was very mild and wind-free, and with the soaking from heavy overnight rain, you could almost hear the grass growing. Lovely.

We walked round the demesne and by the time we had finished, the sun had come out. So we treated ourselves to an (expensive) sandwich and coffee at Avoca, then went in to the botanic garden section for a look round. It was looking beautiful today, with trees and shrubs erupting into verdant leaf and dazzling flower – the acacias (pictured in the banner image) were especially impressive. We had a few spare moments so we actually just sat on a bench and soaked up the sun for a bit – I found it extremely therapeutic. Then we headed back to the flat and soon afterwards, our guests got back.

After a quick turnaround, I drove them to the airport for their return flight to the UK. Val, actually, accompanied them (albeit on a later flight) as she’s away overnight on family business, returning tomorrow. So I’ve got the evening off and I’m anticipating a bit of Netflixing before I retire. Though, annoyingly, I have a bit of a cold at the moment. It came on yesterday morning, and I’m hoping to get rid of it quickly. The sunshine will certainly help.

Today’s photos (click to enlarge)


Looking down the avenue to the main greenhouse. Curiously, it’s actually a converted lean-to	Val checking out the handkerchief tree

The parterre, at the far side of the greenhouse	*Grape hyacinths (Muscari) in the huge bulb-bed by the entrance to the demesne. It’s been superb this year*

A floriferous tree-like shrub in the botanic garden, whose name I can’t remember, but which contains a rich source of vitamin C in its bark, so was used by sailors in the past to ward off scurvy

I’m continuing my quest to find an outdoor-flowering Irish rose in every month of the year and here’s the April representative (on the wall outside the Avoca courtyard by the castle entrance)