Never Mind Blarney Castle, Check Out Blarney Gardens

So I decided to take two days off work this week and was poxed with a gorgeous sunny day to kick it off, just reminding me why September is my favourite month. One of my aims this month is to see more of my local attractions, starting with the famous Blarney Castle.

The castle sits on 60 acres and is most famous for the legendary “Blarney Stone” which upon kissing, grants you with the gift of the gab.

I have no interest in this. Apparently, the stone is covered in the locals’ piss anyway so I wouldn’t be putting my lips anywhere near it.

Now the gardens are something else. The deserve to be part of a double headling bill, not a supporting act.

The view as you enter, showing the castle in the distance and River Martin (loaded with trout):

A tower sits by the castle:

The Castle:

And now down to the interesting business of the gardens. Each area seems to lend itself to a particular atmosphere and theme. 

The Fern Gardens was a beautiful wild and shady area in the woodland.

With interesting paths and steps leading to curious places:

And some friends hiding in the rocks:

Some huge trees about the place:

Making some weird tree shapes:

Then back into the open for some decorative flowers at the Herbaceous Border:

Decorative flowers bring alot of insects. I’ve never seen so many wasps and butterflies in one place before:

My favorite place was an area called Rock Close, which included some beautiful parts of the river, wandering steps and mystical rocks.

The Kissing Steps:

The Waterfall:

Like something from the Blue Lagoon

Archway:

Looking at the photos makes me want to visit it again, and I will soon as I didn’t realise there was a lake on the grounds (should have looked at the map they gave me on entry, no good examining it when I got home…). We spent over two hours there (and didn’t even bother to venture into the actual castle and Im sure there is at least two hours more wealth to be seen.