THE weather for my first visit to Ireland has been very average.
Actually, Dublin in June looks a whole lot like Melbourne in the middle of winter with lots of wet and cold.
The locals tell me this wintry blast is most unseasonal and last week the parks were full of people perched in deckchairs enjoying the sunshine, you couldn't get a seat on the open-top tourist bus, and that ice-cream sellers were doing a roaring trade.
Looking on the bright side, there is a lot of light in this part of the world during the summer months with the morning sky beginning to get bright around 4.30am and not turning dark again until a touch before 10pm.
Continuing to be an optimist, the glass-half-full aspect of regular rain showers is that Ireland is at its very greenest with the paddocks covered by those 40 shades of green that Johnny Cash used to sing about.
All the water falling from the sky is good for Ireland's many stately gardens, some of which are open for tourists who can stroll the grounds doing self-guided walks or just sit to admire the work of the teams of green thumbs employed to keep the spaces looking magnificent.
We visited one of these beautiful estates today, Mount Usher Garden in Ashford just south of Dublin, and got to see the grounds at their very best with light beads of rain resting on the delicate petals of the colourful blooms.
The garden was established by Dublin businessman Edward Walpole in the 1860s, after he purchased an old mill on the banks of the River Varty to be close to the Wexford hills that he loved exploring during his holidays, and started planting the casual gardens.
Mount Usher stayed in the family until an irresponsible son spent the family fortune on some bad investments and the derelict estate was eventually purchased by the matriarch of the Jay clan as the place she would spend her retirement.
Mrs Jay spent a lot of money restoring the grounds and lived in the big house by the Varty until her son decided he wanted to estate's main abode and moved his mother into a garden cottage.
Today there's a park bench set on one bank of the river, near a tree that's home to a colony of bats, and Mrs Jay rests in the seat to admire the view of the trees hanging over the rapids when she takes her daily strolls around the property.
- Posted from my iPad