Ireland day 1117. Saturday 19 October 2024- Altamont

Today’s summary	On Val’s inspired suggestion, drove 1½ hrs down the M9 to Altamount gardens in Co Carlow. Absolutely charming. A real hidden Irish gem with a lovely unspoiled café. Beautiful weather and a wander round a superb cottage garden made for a perfect day out
Today’s weather	Fine and sunny with only a very light rain shower mid afternoon, otherwise dry. Light south westerly wind. Appx 14c

Today’s overview location (The green mark shows the location of our route)		Close-up location (The orange 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): Altamont Gardens

Commentary

Today was, for me, a more or less perfect day. It started with various items of positive news from the family, then continued with a spur-of-the-moment trip down the M9, ninety minutes into County Carlow. Val should take the credit for this expedition, actually. When we were last in the Phoenix Park visitor centre, she had picked up a leaflet from the OPW information desk about the various gardens in Ireland that were under the OPW’s stewardship. There was one on the list that wasn’t too far away, and which we had never even heard of let alone visited – Altamont Gardens.

A bit of research revealed that this was a well-restored “cottage” style garden attached to Altamont House – a large family home owned first by the Morris family (Thomas Morris was a protégé of the notorious Oliver Cromwell) and then eventually, three centuries later by the North family. The last owner was Corona North [ good job she wasn’t married to Mr Virus] who died childless in 1999 and bequeathed the house and estate to the OPW. The house is closed and in need of considerable funds to restore it, but the gardens are fully open to the public.

Armed with this information, and with the sun streaming down outside (in complete contrast to yesterday), we got our things together and set off on our quest of discovery.

The drive down was straightforward but very busy for a Saturday. Anyway we got there eventually and headed straight to the café, as we hadn’t really had time for a proper breakfast before we left. I was immediately enchanted. The café is really not a lot more than a gardener’s shed with a semi-outdoor terrace and shelter attached. It just serves soup, a few cakes and hot drinks, and is perfect in its simplicity. I sincerely hope it stays like this for ever and that the OPW doesn’t succumb to the greedy temptations of outsourcing and commercialisation, which I think has spoiled far too many charming, privately run, tearooms all around the world lately.

After we had lingered over our lunch – and I for one could have stayed there all afternoon – we headed off into the gardens themselves. They were just as charming as the café and were interesting, beautiful and peaceful today. OK the autumn colours and perfect weather certainly helped, but I do think that in my mind at any rate, they must rank as some of the nicest gardens I have visited, anywhere. The OPW should be congratulated on safeguarding this real jewel of a place – the joy of its discovery today more than made up for the slight disappointments of the arboretum a week ago.

Eventually, after we had fully explored all its nooks and crannies, the warden started dinging a bell signalling that it was time to leave. So we had a quick look round the adjacent garden centre (full of rare and unusual specimens) before hitting the road and heading for home.

Once back in Malahide (Val drove, which allowed me to put my feet up and listen to podcasts – many thanks!), Val went on a run while I sorted out dinner. It’s the last of the roast lamb etc. again, supplemented by some frozen vegetables I found in the freezer. So all that remains for us now is to tuck in, finish off yesterday’s bottle of rather nice rioja, and sit back to reflect on a totally ten-out-of-ten day.

Today’s photos (click to enlarge)


The garden café. As far as I am concerned it is absolutely perfect. Half in a shed and half outside, it’s beautifully simple and uncommercialized. It reminded me a lot of the old café in the Tresco Abbey Gardens, before it got “modernised”. I sincerely hope that the OPW doesn’t go down the same path	The gardens were starting to show autumn colours and were lovely. Would be nice to come again in February, when the snowdrops are out. An interesting “compare and contrast” visit

One-person-wide bridge over the artificial lake. It was completely silted up and overgrown until it was finally cleared again only a few years ago	The Temple of the Four Winds in the middle of what is now a wildlife garden. It was a relatively recent addition to the garden, being built in the 1990s by the late Corona North, the last owner of the house and gardens

Here we are, enjoying the sun (though the eagle-eyed may have spotted the rainbow in the background, showing that rain is never far away)	The front of Altamont House, as seen from the car park. Actually, the other side, overlooking the gardens, used to be the “front” but it had to be switched over about 20 years after it was built in 1740, when a new approach road was built from the “wrong” side

The way into the garden. You feel like you are walking into another world