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
After the playground, we chilled out at the RTE area, where the Rte string quartet belted out some golden oldies and modern day classics. One word describes them “marvellous” (so soothing and relaxing “yum” konked out in the buggy) I spotted an elderly lady coming to sit beside me in the shade, seconds later a young girl approached her and said, “excuse me you left your handbag behind”. the elderly lady thanked the girl and checked her bag (which was in the exact condition she left it) That summed up the vibe of bloom. Honest kind with a huge heart.
oh and just to add the gardens were not the only spectacular sites, check out my old pal Tarzan… am I smiling much?
I received a media pass for ” bloom in the park 2016 ” for this review all thoughts and opinions are my own x
Oh well done! Congratulations. Maybe you can share a video with us? 😉 x
Ooooh that looks like a lovely day out. And even a Tarzan – win!
Sounds like a great day, but what are those bumpy things all over Tarzan’s stomach?! *sucks in beer gut*
Well done! Sounds a great day out and lots to do x
I was reading along the HE caught my eye and everything fuzzed over. Sounds like a great day though.
Wow congrats. I saw the Tarzan picture on Twitter earlier. Nice.
Looks like you had a lovely day out! I’m so jealous that Tarzan man is so hot!
Sounds like such a great event and it’s so good when places like this cater for kids as well x
Sounds like a fantastic day!