A Year In Redwood

I have now been to all 5 Bloom festivals!  And each year it gets bigger and better.

This year for various reasons we weren’t able to go until Sunday.  And, of course, that also happened to be the one day of the festival that it rained!  But never mind we still had a great day!

Over the years the gardening segment has grown, but the ‘foodie’ section has grown so much!  I remember the first year when there were maybe half a dozen food and craft people in attendance.  This year there was an entire food village and a similar ginormous area for the crafts!

Part of our tradition of going to Bloom involves meeting family – my brother, his wife and 2 daughters.  The girls now aged 9 and 7 love going to the craft section to see what they can try their hand at!  Spinning the pottery wheel 2 years ago still tops the best things to do at Bloom list!

They also get a great kick out of all the food on offer! And this year was no exception.  Trying to decide which is your favourite apple juice – sweet or tart?  Trying to make up your mind on which chocolates to buy…. lots of decisions for girls to make!

While for me wandering about the Food Village was a chance to catch up with old friends from my networking days in Offaly and Tipperary. The first person we saw on arrival was Ray from Quarrymount Free Range Meats who we’d only met the previous week at Killaloe Market.  I was immediately roped in to take some photos…. Ray had forgotten his camera!

Next up was Veronica from Crossogue Preserves who I hadn’t seen in an absolute age! Veronica told me she was having the busiest day ever!

And the only time we seem to meet Andrew from Meadowsweet these times is at Bloom!

Once the socialising around the food tents was done, it was off to see the gardens.  I know the show gardens are meant to be the highlight, but I just love the walled garden!  I love wandering around to see how my vegetables at home are doing by comparison to the ‘experts’!  (I reckoned this year I was holding my own!)

And, of course, there are so many inspiring gardens!  My favourite this year was the Chinese Garden, or maybe that was to do with the beautiful music being played while I was there. 

The girls absolutely loved the Mad Hatters Tea Party!

We even managed to get a dry spot under the trees to have our lunch and indulge in some O’Donnell’s Crisps.

Then it was time to explore the giant display tents where we bumped into some more friends.

And the final treat of the day was a stop on the way out at the ‘Man Creche’/beer tent where we met up with Caroline (Bibliocook) and got to taste her hubbie’s wonderful Eight Degree beer and even met Little Missy (although she was rather too busy with a yoghurt to get involved in conversation!)

A wonderful end to a wonderful day!

And, yes, we too came home with a jar of the now infamous bacon jam!