I am forever looking up holidays to anywhere with sunshine, heritage and pretty buildings. Below are some photos from Ile de Re one of my favourite places to visit.

Once May comes the garden really starts to brighten up.This year I have planted Lupins, Antirrhinum (Snapdragon), Nemesia, Kniphofia (Redhot Poker), Pansies and Dahlias. Now all I have to do is wait for them to bloom. It is raining today after days of heat and sunshine so they should really take off now. In the meantime I am enjoying some photos I took of various gardens I visited. Hope you enjoy them too.

Magnolia Trees are so pretty when they are in bloom

Recently we visited Belvedere House and Gardens near Mullingar in County Westmeath. We had visited before so just spent a few hours wandering around the house and gardens. It is a lovely place for a day out and we booked online before we went €6.50 per adult. My last post includes some photos from the walled garden and glasshouse. Here is the house itself and views of the larger gardens. The weather has wonderful here in Ireland for the past two weeks but some rain came yesterday. The garden will start to flourish now so I'm off to the garden centre today to buy some Antirrhinum (snapdragons), Nemesia and perhaps some Sweetpeas. I have two new trailing Hydrangeas that I set last year and they are going to bloom this year as the blooms are appearing. My Lupin is also doing well but it appears something may be eating the flowers buds!!! I will have to investigate...

What a beautiful weekend we just had and to make it even better I took an extra day off work. We have had no rain in a few weeks now and it is great. Below are some photographs from our recent visit to Belvedere House and Gardens outside Mullingar in County Westmeath. The walled garden is my favourite. You can also explore the house itself. While it was busy when we visited most people were relaxing along the lake shore. We have lovely scenery and lakes everywhere at home so when I get away I enjoy exploring gardens and architecture.

Oh what a fabulous day we had here in Ireland, sunshine and blue skies and I have an extra long weekend too. I spent most of the day in the garden-mowing and weeding... can't wait for summer now with lots of flowers... below are a few pretty flower arrangements I photographed at an agricultural show here in Ireland last year... which is your favourite?? I'd have to choose the one with the hydrangeas....