Taking only photographs – leaving only footprints
Walking around the gardens at Blarney Castle, it is full of colourful surprises and delights. From sculptures to amazing flower beds. My favourite was the herbaceous border that seemed to go on forever. This Agrostemma flower was growing nearby to the Blarney House. It is an annual plant also known as the common corncockle and is a native of Europe. It was the bright purple that caught my eye with the dark green plants behind.
Most well known for Blarney Castle and the Blarney Stone, the Blarney Estate has much more to see if you have time for a walk around the grounds. This is Blarney House. A Scottish baronial style mansion built in 1874. It was build by John Lanyon of Lanyon, Lynn and Lanyon architects. The Colthurst family still lives in this house so we weren’t able to go inside. The gardens surrounding the house are well worth seeing, especially in summer when the flowers are all the colours of the rainbow.
Built in 1446 this is the main tower of Blarney Castle in Cork, Ireland. Home of the Blarney Stone. If you look closely to the right of the image you can see the shade of someone’s arm and head as they lead backwards over the metal grates to kiss the Blarney Stone. Legend says if you hang upside-down over this drop to kiss the stone you get the gift of the gab (eloquence). This close up view caught my eye as I liked the contrast between the sunny side and shaded side of the tower with the bright sky behind. Blarney Castle and Gardens photograph shows a wider view of the surrounding castle and gardens.
Has time caught up to Molly Malone? I previously shared this black and white photograph of the Molly Malone Statue. It was sad seeing so many people rubbing the statue. Seeing the clock of O’Neill’s Pub on the other side of Suffolk Street I saw an opportunity for this quite different view. Getting low to the ground and using a zoom lens I focused on Molly’s face. Framing the portrait to make it seem as if she was looking at the clock. Maybe it’s time people stop touching this statue. Dublin City Council seems to agree as this year they are running a pilot scheme to have stewards stationed next to Molly to discourage people from touching her. You can read more about this on the BBC’s article Dublin’s Molly Malone statue to get stewards to stop ‘groping’.