Drumgooland Church and Graveyard, and High Cross?

We are surrounded by the past.

Not far from us, at Dechomet is an old graveyard, linked with an ancient Church, now gone, and possibly a Medieval High Cross, mysterious in it's provenance.

Recently a fabulous new access path has been made, and as I was nearby, (at Turley's Builder's Merchants) and the sun was shining, I took a look:

the fabulous new access path

an historic artefact in it's own right:
a 19th century flax mill chimney 

the base of the chimney

graveyard entrance

some of the remaining gravestones

still active

most of the upstanding stones were 'savagely' cleared in the 1970's and now line an edge of the site

inscription on the obelisk, marking the enclosure of the site by Arthur, Viscount of Dungannon in 1853

obelisk, and chimney

some amazing inscriptions

the line of gravestones

an overview of the site, after it's savage 'tidying' in the 1970's

beautiful brickwork, and recent repointing

Dechomet village and Mountain,
with School, Turley's Bar, Flax Restaurant, and Turley's builders Merchants

Overview on the Historic Environment map

satellite view

notes about the cross, and the tidying

 There is much more detail here on the Department for Communities website.

Yarnbomb! SOMA, Castlewellan, July 2018

Being textile people at heart, we always keep a weather eye out for yarn related activities in the World.

We were delighted therefore to see the great yarnbomb of the SOMA festival in Castlewellan this year.

It's a great spectacle, and a worthy contribution to this great, growing festival

Well done to all those talented dedicated people who created it - some of them not too far afield!

Summer Solstice 2018

It being Ireland, there are not too many fine dry Solstice days. 

I can recall about in and around ten in the thirty three years we have been back!

This 21st June 2018 is a noteworthy exception, absolutely beautiful, if a bit breezy.

Here are some pictures from the day:

Charlie on his lawn

the shrubbery!

the view from the lawn, with our three 'significant trees'

Elaine and Charlie, in a shady nook by the purlin seat

one of the small paths heads into the woods

the cross path below the woods

at the bottom of the garden

fuchsia, hit hard by the late frosts, but flowering early!

the willow tunnel

the view from the far seat

looking down to the far seat

massive skies

High Summer

A friend once said to me that in this part of the world there are two seasons:

May,  and Winter!

Well, this year May has been kind enough to offer some of it's cracking weather to the first week of June.

The days are warm and sultry, and as the evening sun approaches the Solstice on the 21st, the light on The Mournes is spectacular

Slieve Bernagh

The sun catches the Mourne Wall at the Hare's Gap

The view from the Picnic Lawn - stupendous!

The end of April, majestic clouds and flowers

It's been mainly cold and damp this month, with a few, precious few, lovely Spring days.

Still, the growing time is upon us, planting in the vegetable garden has started - onions and potatoes (pictures to follow when something shows!) and Elaine has planted seeds in the greenhouse.

Tonight, in between the hail showers, we have had lovely sunshine.

Quite appropriate for April then:

Magnolia Stellata on the lawn

Cherry Blossom

Peeping through to Slieve Bernagh

a handsome sight

passing storm in the East, can you see Moon and Rainbow?

similar energy over Spelga in the South

Earlier in the day Charlie and I walked on the Mourne coastal path at the Bloody Bridge, the sea was amazing:

A Wintery Start to 2018

We've had three major snow and ice incidents this year so far, and it's only March!

Here are a few pics of our adventures round the garden: