As a stroke of luck (in the form of the Irish bloggers group) I got the chance to go as a blogger for bord bia to bloom in the park, and was a guest on the media list  (fancy eh,)  We packed up for the day hopped on the luas,  and off the 3 of us went, to check out what “bloom in the park” had to offer as a family festival.

The Gardens

The show gardens are the heart of the festival, but there are other gardens to view . The postcard, sculptured and victorian walled gardens to name a few

One yummy daddy gets his kick,s from gardening.. it’s his thing, (and Rock and roll) So he was  in his element
strolling around the show gardens.  The craftsmanship and imagination that went into each one were incredible.. his favourite being the “YI garden” meaning the friendship garden. It originated from china, and the idea behind it is to bridge a friendship connection between china and Ireland (we have a pretty good connection with the  chicken ball and curry sauce, so I think we,re half way there) so this garden kinda cements it 🙂 .. My favorite garden was the UCD evolution garden.. the concept of this was to tell the story of plants moving from water to land, making the land suitable for animals. it was divided into 5 sections and was pretty spectacular stuff.

Here,s a snapshot of some of the other gardens

The Grub

The food village and food market were heaven on earth.. Here we got a good inside into Irelands fruit and vegetable industry. I made a dart for “keelings love to grow tunnel, we got to see exactly how fruit is grown, and had a good chat about growing our own blueberries.. (watch this space) I purchased 3 packs of the biggest  juiciest strawberries, raspberries and  blueberries on the way out  and received a free cookbook, happy days. My highlight of the food village had to be the roast suckling pork from Adare farm  .. a  real show stopper for me. It was rolling with taste,  melt in the mouth pork..  As I devoured a wrap filled with it , I copped that the happy pear guys were around also, so  I had a few more samples from them x (it would be rude not to)

The Family

I was pleasantly surprised how much there was to do for the family, “yum” loved the fun on the farm children’s zone, where she got the chance to load up a few diggers. Budding bloomers had a variety of activities to keep the smallies entertained too from toddlers to big kids.  The food dudes were very inventive, with a mix activities  encouraging the little one,s to eat there 5 a day!! The picnic area was huge also and slap bang in the middle of the festivities, The  playground.. it was like a mirage when I spotted it in the distance.. “Yum” was fed up in the buggy and going through an “I walk by myself  and not hold mammy,s hand moment” (that’s being polite, think along the lines of flopping to the ground, and not moving) so we hung out at the playground for around and hour.. and sat and ate our raspberries ,blueberries and strawberries in the sunshine .. bliss

 The overall vibe