Ireland day 1290. Thursday 10 April 2025- Rhododendromania

Today’s summary	Made a phone call and did some admin jobs in the morning, then after lunch we drove down to the National Botanic Gardens at Kilmacurragh. Went on a behind the scenes, after hours, tour of the garden looking at the rhododendron specimens. Absolutely brilliant and well worth the slow drive to get there. A much quicker drive back and picked up a takeaway from M&S at Applegreen. Ridiculously expensive even when half-price
Today’s weather	Dry clear and sunny all day, again. Almost 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): Rhodendromania Kilmacurragh

Commentary

Another beautiful day dawned and once again we determined, when we got up, to make the most of it.

So as soon as we were breakfasted and abluted, we set about our daily tasks. I had to make a personal call to someone back in the UK and while I did this, Val made some delicious savoury mini-scones. We then had coffee, some cold chicken, and biscuits and called it lunch. After that, it was time to do our usual quick round of the demesne, which was still looking fabulous despite the drought, then pressed on into town to do some shopping.

By the time we got back and had had another cup of tea, it was time to embark on the main activity of the day. Late yesterday evening, Val had spotted that the National Botanic garden at Kilmacurragh was having a special “Rhododendromania” evening tonight, featuring a behind-the-scenes, after-hours, tour led by the Head Gardener, Seamus O’Brien. There weren’t many spaces left and, as we had no specific plans for the day, Val booked it there and then.

So at about 3:30 pm we jumped into the car, allowing (what we thought) would be plenty of time to drive down into Wicklow for the start of the tour at 6pm. Anyway, events conspired against us and there were major hold ups on both the M50 and M11 which frustrated our progress. Anyway, in the end we made it with about quarter of an hour to spare, though sadly the café had already closed.

Then the tour itself began and it was simply excellent. Seamus was an excellent guide – knowledgeable, entertaining and engaging. He reeled off more facts, names and statistics about rhododendrons than I could ever possibly remember. Though one fact is that some species of rhododendron produce copious amounts of nectar – so much so that it literally pours out of the flowers – but in some cases it can be extremely toxic. It can contain something called “Andromedotoxin” (aka grayanotoxin) which I had never heard of but which sounds exotic, and which if ingested will kill you within three days. You should be extremely wary of eating honey from the Himalayas, or indeed anywhere that rhododendrons grow in abundance.

The tour lasted a good two hours and took us into areas of the garden which are currently closed off to the public (so no photographs allowed) but which will hopefully open in 2026. We also learned that restoration of the house, built in 1697 and a rare example of the Queen Anne style but which was destroyed by two fires in 1978 and 1982 – should be well underway by this time next year. Hooray.

When the tour ended, it was beginning to get dark and the midges were starting to bite. We beat a hasty path back to the car and Val drove us swiftly and painlessly back to Malahide while I dozed in the passenger seat. En route we stopped at the Applegreen petrol station to pick up a takeaway at the on-site Marks & Spencer. We bought a lamb rogan josh and a few samosas which fortunately for us were being sold off half price at the end of the day. But it still came to over €20. I still cannot believe that a modest take-away for two from a petrol station could, if not discounted, cost €40. Sadly I think it means we are really going to have to re-examine our cost-base, as prices like this are simply unsustainable.

Anyway, once back in the flat, we swiftly reheated the pop-pop meal and enjoyed it while watching a film in French about estate agents. The reassuring thing was that if you think petrol station take-aways in Ireland are expensive, you should just look up the price of chateaux in France. Clue – they start at €100million. Anyway, an excellent day all round and huge thanks to Val for spotting the tour and for booking it.

Today’s photos (click to enlarge)


The ruinous Queen Ann mansion – about to get a face-lift	Massive tree rhododendrons were in abundant bloom everywhere. Don’t ask me their names or genetic parentage though – it was all painstakingly explained to us, but I’m afraid at my age it just goes in one ear and out the other

Remarkable nine-petalled narcissus flower	Seamus O’Brien in full flow describing a rhododendron specimen which was originally collected near Everest base camp

Walking into the sunset down Rhododendron Walk	Distant view east to the rolling hills near the Wicklow coast. On clear days in December you can just about make out Wales in a gap between the hills

Val at the entrance to the garden, with a rather peculiar shaped conifer in the background