Post by Whisker on Aug 14, 2012 18:13:58 GMT -1
We were celebrating the 10th Anniversary of Huntingbrook Gardens. It's about 30 mins drive from where I live, heading into the Wicklow Mountains.
This is a private garden, the brain-child of owner Jimmi Blake. He is a real plant enthusiast and takes trips as far afield as China and South America, in order to bring back rare plants.
The party was planned to last from 12 noon to 6 p.m. on Sunday.
There was lots to interest, planned, such as the flower garden itself, talks, woodland walks, the latest improvements that Jimmie had made to the garden, plant sales, seed sales, book sales - to mention just a few things. There were also the refreshments, coffee cake, etc. My friend and I were really looking forward to an interesting day.
Dress code was supposed to be "floral", but not many had adhered to that, as the day was quite chilly and overcast, with fog and mist obscuring the mountains.
Well, to make a long story short - almost as soon as we arrived, the heavens opened and it was like a Monsoon, with pouring rain.
We all tried to scramble for shelter, wherever we could find it. My friend and I decided the best ploy would be to head for the kitchen/cafe, where we knew there would be lovely pies and cakes, plus some nice coffee.
It was all a bit haphazard, and we had to queue for ages. People were getting a bit irate because of the pouring rain. Eventually we got to sit down at a table and enjoy our pear tart and coffee. While there, we got to talk to other gardening enthusiasts, which was nice.
There was no letup in the rain, which was bucketing down. Going outside was out of the question.
When we had finished our tart and coffee, we decided to head for home. Maybe we could come back another time to see the garden. Soon as we started to head out, the rain stopped!
But by this time we had decided to keep going, while we could. That was our garden party! 
;D
The place is stunning, but unfortunately, no one seemed to have bargained for the rain!
I had managed to take just a few photos before the rain had started to come down. Here are some in my next post.
This is a private garden, the brain-child of owner Jimmi Blake. He is a real plant enthusiast and takes trips as far afield as China and South America, in order to bring back rare plants.
The party was planned to last from 12 noon to 6 p.m. on Sunday.
There was lots to interest, planned, such as the flower garden itself, talks, woodland walks, the latest improvements that Jimmie had made to the garden, plant sales, seed sales, book sales - to mention just a few things. There were also the refreshments, coffee cake, etc. My friend and I were really looking forward to an interesting day.
Dress code was supposed to be "floral", but not many had adhered to that, as the day was quite chilly and overcast, with fog and mist obscuring the mountains.
Well, to make a long story short - almost as soon as we arrived, the heavens opened and it was like a Monsoon, with pouring rain.
We all tried to scramble for shelter, wherever we could find it. My friend and I decided the best ploy would be to head for the kitchen/cafe, where we knew there would be lovely pies and cakes, plus some nice coffee.
It was all a bit haphazard, and we had to queue for ages. People were getting a bit irate because of the pouring rain. Eventually we got to sit down at a table and enjoy our pear tart and coffee. While there, we got to talk to other gardening enthusiasts, which was nice.
There was no letup in the rain, which was bucketing down. Going outside was out of the question.
When we had finished our tart and coffee, we decided to head for home. Maybe we could come back another time to see the garden. Soon as we started to head out, the rain stopped!
But by this time we had decided to keep going, while we could. That was our garden party! 
;DThe place is stunning, but unfortunately, no one seemed to have bargained for the rain!
I had managed to take just a few photos before the rain had started to come down. Here are some in my next post.
