WEEKENDER
The ‘Garden of Ireland’ is a fabled landscape of rivers, forest walkways and smugglers’ coves where visitors can forage, wild swim and follow woodland paths to monastic ruins.
To drive south of Dublin and cross into County Wicklow is to be confronted, almost immediately, with some of the most soaring, timeless scenery the Emerald Isle has to offer. This is the ‘Garden of Ireland’: a forested realm of steep, glacial valleys that climb dramatically to the stark uplands of the Wicklow Mountains. Its beauty has made it a site of pilgrimage since ancient times —between the sixth and 12th centuries, the valley of Glendalough was home to one of the most powerful and learned monasteries in all Christendom.
Today, walkers flock to Wicklow to tackle sections, if not all, of the Wicklow Way, an 82-mile trail that snakes through the county’s centre. Along the way, it offers detours to spectacular aristocratic country piles like Powerscourt House & Gardens or horticultural wonders such as the National Botanic Gardens, Kilmacurragh. A groundswell of civic pride and investment over the past decade has led to the launch of new tours and attractions, including the multimillion-pound Beyond the Trees aerial forest walkway. Meanwhile, on the coast, pretty towns with sandy beaches offer surfers and swimmers access to the Irish Sea, their streets paved with tales of smugglers, Vikings, rebels and poets.
DAY ONE SEA TO SUMMIT
Kissing the county’s northern border with Dublin is the lively beach town of Bray, its promenade stretching a mile between the mouth of the River Dargle and a rocky headland once notorious for smugglers’ caves. Strap on a life jacket for a sea kayak lesson with Bray Adventures. Paddling out from the harbour, the instructor paints a picture of Bray’s 19thcentury heyday as Ireland’s most glamorous seaside resort, pointing out landmarks such as Oscar Wilde’s birthplace. The final destination is a set of rugged sea stacks home to nesting guillemots, cormorants and kittiwakes. Lunch awaits in the town of Greystones — The Happy Pear serves hearty plant-based curries and soups, plus vegan desserts. brayadventures.ie thehappypear.ie
Drive to Powerscourt House & Gardens, one of eastern Ireland’s most impressive and storied estates, in Enniskerry. The 18thcentury Palladian manor is merely set dressing for the main event: 47 acres of landscaped gardens. Beautifully arranged beneath grand terraces and framed on the horizon by Wicklow’s Great Sugar Loaf peak, the grounds offer up ornamental lakes and follies to rival the grander palaces of continental Europe. Self-guided audio tours tell the history of Ireland through the triumphs
