I got to know Laois during my student days at Trinity College Dublin. I would drive with friends down to Glin Castle, my family home in County Limerick, and stop off to picnic among the ancient stones of the dramatic Rock of Dunamase, a ruined fortified castle on high ground between Portlaoise and Stradbally. Eating our sandwiches, surrounded by a plain, we could see across many counties to the beautiful Slieve Bloom Mountains in the distance.
From the Rock it’s a short drive to Ballintubbert Gardens & House, where Minnie Preston and I run the Festival of Gardens and Nature in early May. The festival is set within Ballintubbert’s arts and crafts-style garden, with hornbeam, yew, a hazel grove and an apple orchard that flowers in time for the festival. We bring together speakers from the world of contemporary garden design, organic growing, garden history and ecology. This year is our third outing.
Ballintubbert Gardens & House
Since launching the festival in 2024, I have been spending more time in Laois, where Minnie and I plan the programme. We’ll start the day with porridge oats from the wonderful Merry Mill in Vicarstown. Or we might have our favourite Ballyrider House granola, which we buy from the Fruit ‘N Nut Health Store in Portlaoise. We’ll eat fresh bread and pastries from Mueller & O’Connell Bakery in Abbeyleix, and later, if in need of a pause, we might head to Morrissey’s for a drink. In my earlier years, I would always have had a pint of Guinness but now I order a boring old half.
