Back Gardens on Cnoc na Gaire

When it comes to home, a good garden is very important to Fred and I, in fact to me it was more important than the interiors. Perhaps I spent most of my childhood several feet up a tree in a rather marvellous den of my own making! I can tell you in detail the location of every knot and scar on our tallest conifer, the sound it made in the winds, the way it smelt after the rain, the sticky feeling of sap after a heatwave, but I would struggle to recall the pattern of the living room wallpaper! At the moment we have a very small garden but it really is an extension of our home, which is rare in Ireland where its either too wet, windy or dark to use a garden for most of the year!

We kept this in mind when we were designing the gardens on Cnoc na Gaire, we wanted somewhere that our whole family could use, where we could grow plants, food and children, a place to socialise, play, learn and relax in on a daily basis and not just when the sun deigned to shine. We wanted a loose formality, a landscaping with soft edges, a manicured garden into which the surrounding hills had tumbled. We don't plan on having cows in the garden (!) but we didn't want them to look too out of place when they stuck their head over the fence.

The front garden was such a big space that it could comfortably accommodate this (rambling, nonsensical) brief. The back garden on the other hand - well that was a bit of a tougher call! Nevertheless I think it looks amazing! The round patios, potager garden, curving lattice fencing  and kidney lawn keep it reasonably informal while still providing designated areas for all the things we wanted, the chickens in the corner will only add to its charm!

The raw untouched back yard! At this stage it was a grass and gravel! It was hard to imagine what the space was capable of becoming and a part of me loved how rugged it was.

That feeling didn't last long once the diggers moved in! Up came the grass and down went the patio slabs! 

Things really slowed down after the initial spurt, the finer details took a lot longer, the pergola has gone up over the larger patio, eventually this will be covered in gorgeous, perfumed wisteria. I can't wait! 

Aaaaaaaand it's almost finished! The trampoline has been sunk and the lawn has been seeded, the plants are laid out ready for their forever homes and I can't wait to move in!!!!!!! 

This my favourite area! On the left is looking down towards the front garden, through the 'secret' path that runs behind the potager garden and on the right is the view looking up this pathway into the back garden! Eeeek! I'm so looking forward to chasing Alfie and the boys along this path!

Play time!

All throughout my pregnancy Alfie was the most chilled out little baby, he never went mad with the kicking, I had no terrible hardships during his gestation (what a word!) and his birth was pretty easy and happy. He's been the exact same now that he's out, a happy, relaxed little baby! 

Fred and I were keen on starting Montessori from birth and this is our first stab at it! He's 14 weeks old now and just starting to engage with people and objects around him. In the last few days we've started to introduce a small selection of toys, prior to this his happiest moments were when he was looking at someones face and singing songs with them or studying his black and white banner.

These photos were taken when he was only two and a half weeks old. At this stage a baby can't see further than 8-12 inches. Their vision is so poor that they struggle to distinguish colours and find it easiest to focus on high contrast images in black and white...As usual, I didn't believe the experts and their alleged facts until I saw it in action for myself!

Alfie's reaction to the black and white hanging was instant! From the first second that we put in front of him he couldn't tear his eyes away! It was the first time that he had really focused on anything and taken some time to study something.

We could see his eyes travelling all over the whole chart until he found a square that caught his attention then he would begin his search again.

I was so surprised by his reaction. His little face is pure concentration! He stayed like this for several minutes, letting his attention flow to different areas of the chart.

As he got older we folded the chart into a pyramid and let him stare at it while he did his tummy time which he also really enjoyed but his favourite way to play with it is still while it's hanging from his baby gym.

PS. I love the IKEA Leka baby gym, because it's so easy to adapt it and change out the mobiles, added bonus it's a bargain at £20. It's fairly plain and not 100 miles from the Montessori/Waldorf ideal that we would want for Alfie. So far we haven't messed with it too much but I LOVE this tutorial to modify it from Put Up Your Dukes. When I get a bit of spare time (lol) I'm going to try and do something similar.