Travel...'broadens the mind'.

The Walled Garden at Powerscourt, Wicklow.

Even if you travel in your own country! I am so glad we stayed in Ireland this year, if the weather had been awful I may have thought differently! It was so good to see Ireland through the eyes of a tourist, to take in its wild, romantic beauty and really appreciate it. Sometimes I get quite down on my own country, because it's not very sophisticated, because we don't seem to appreciate our history and heritage, and seem to favour new fangled and modern instead of old and worn. ( I am speaking of Northern Ireland here.) With my line of work, painting furniture and interiors, it is frustrating because it is really hard to find vintage and antique items here, and when you do they are generally heavy victorian and dark wood, not the kind of look I  want!  General cost of living is quite expensive here, everything seems to be brought in and so is more expensive than England. We have very little in the way of Farmers Markets, even though we have plenty of farmers. So, you can imagine, when I see the lovely Antique Fairs, Vintage Markets, Farmers Markets, Brocantes etc. on your lovely blogs, I jump up and down and cry with frustration. However, when I travel to Southern Ireland and see places like Avoca, with their wonderful cafes and deli's thriving, Artisan Bakers, French Vans selling local fruit, it gives me hope and I think yes, we will have these things in Nortern Ireland! I need to remember too, that it wasn't that long ago, when we had bombs going off, shootings, we were a country at war, and it takes time to recover from these things. I have forgotten what Belfast city centre used to be like, when no-one went out at night. There were no 'Cocktail Bars' and fancy Hotels, coffee houses and designer shops. We were really starved of culture and beauty! Things really have changed for the better when I think of it. My mind has been broadened, I have come to appreciate my country more and I am glad of it. So here are a few of our holiday snaps, to let you see how beautiful it is!



A wonderful Georgian door in Bray.





A pretty row of houses, in the seaside town of Bray.





 

I would so love one of these Citroen vans.



Entrance to Avoca shop, restaurant, deli and garden centre at Kilmacanagoue.

The photos above where taken at Avoca.



Down at the farm at Kilcoole.



I don't want to bore you with too many photos, so I will keep the one's from Powerscourt and Eniskerry for another day. Have a wonderful week. Thankyou so much to my new followers, welcome aboard! Love Linda x