By Sarah Mac Donald - 27 May, 2014
Christ Church Cathedral in Dublin is to be transformed into a floral arcadia for the Dublin Garden Festival which takes place from 13 to 15 June.
The cathedral will be decorated for the weekend with contemporary and classic arrangements designed by some of Ireland’s most talented and award–winning floral artists.
Christ Church Cathedral is a leading tourist destination and every year staff welcome thousands of visitors through the door.
Fundraising for the much needed repair and restoration of the cathedral and grounds has been ongoing for some time and all proceeds from the garden festival will go towards this endeavour.
It is hoped that this first garden festival will be the beginning of an annual event in the yearly cathedral calendar.
Throughout the weekend of the festival floral displays will fill the medieval building with colour.
Visitors will receive gardening advice from renowned and much loved personalities from the world of gardening and horticulture.
Outside in the cathedral grounds there will be horticultural displays, Irish food produce, urban gardens, birds of prey, a petting zoo, craft demonstrations, live entertainment and an outdoor artisan food tent full of gourmet food including afternoon tea.
Each day, a number of talks entitled ‘Gardening With The Experts’ will take place in the cathedral’s historic south transept featuring a host of prolific expert gardeners discussing everything from money–saving composting to creating your very own urban garden.
The line–up is as follows:
Friday 13 June 11am: Helen Dillon | 2pm: Mathew Jebb | 3pm: Christopher White | 6pm: Fiann O Nuallain
Saturday 14 June 10am: Kitty Scully | 12.00pm: Fiann O Nuallain | 1.30pm: Dermot O’Neill | 3.00pm: Christopher White | 4.30pm: Gerry Daly | 6.00pm: Jane McCorkeral
Sunday 15 June 1pm: Diarmuid Gavin
Christ Church Cathedral Choir will perform a special concert at 3.30pm on Sunday of Benjamin Britten’s work, Five Flower Songs.
The festival will open on Friday 13 and Saturday 14 from 9am until 9pm and on Sunday 15 from 12.30pm to 7pm.
Admission is €12/€10 concession. Groups of 10 or more: €8.50. Children under 12 go free. Early Bird offer available now on Ticketmaster: €10 (offer ends June 6).
