Bray's gardens are about to be put on show - and, combined with its Edwardian bandstand and Victorian esplanade , they make the town well worth a visit
It was once the largest seaside resort in Ireland, a destination for day trips, holidays and honeymoons. But now this town of sandcastles and boarding houses has metamorphosed into a suburb of Dublin - on the way to other, farther suburbs - as the capital leaches into neighbouring counties.
Yet Bray, in Co Wicklow, retains its atmosphere of a place of pleasure on the edge of the Irish Sea. The elegant Edwardian bandstand has recently been restored, and the kiosks and shelters (where the lily-livered might cower from the brisk east winds) are still scattered along the Victorian esplanade.
Despite these inducements, and not forgetting the "amusements" at the far end of the esplanade, few of us nowadays would think of taking a day trip to Bray. But that is exactly what the people who have organised Bray Garden Walkabout next Saturday would like you to do.
Seven gardeners - most of them ordinary gardeners, like you and me - are inviting you to slow down and take a stroll through the town, and to drop into their various patches on the way. And there's an extra fillip, because the Delgany and District Horticultural Society summer show is on in Bray that afternoon, giving you a chance to admire some of the best roses, vegetables and other garden produce grown in the county.
Most of the gardens will serve some kind of refreshments and have plants for sale. So it'll be a bit of old-fashioned, mannerly entertainment, and it's for a good cause, too: Meals on Wheels.
Of course, a day such as this offers an added treat that must be mentioned, and the thrill of which is considerable.
And it is this: the joy of snooping. (In this case, moreover, it's all for charity, so it's virtuous snooping.) For instance, one of the gardens, Currabawn, on Putland Road, belongs to Annette Hynes. That name may mean nothing to most of us, but for a couple of generations of Bray residents it means sore feet and strenuous contortions. Miss Hynes, you see, is a ballet teacher.
She is also a good gardener, with a fine fruit-and-vegetable patch.
Then there's the Raheen Park garden of Maura Moraghan; she's chairwoman of Bray Flower Club, and as you might expect from one holding such an august position, she has perfect roses - all of which should be in full flight next week. Like most of the gardens on the walkabout, hers is a family space, and there is the rather pretty sight of a long-since disused swing set, now engulfed by hardy geranium, a posh loosestrife and love-in-a-mist. Most of her plot is made up of a long slope at the front, but she's managed to pack quite a bit into the back also, including a collection of Japanese maples and a tiny plantation of raspberry and rhubarb.
Not far away, on Newcourt Road, are the gardens of Maureen McGrath and Joan Codyre. The first of these is an ardent plantswoman who is still in the keen stage of collecting all about her; the second is the owner of a particularly fine view. The charming, cottagey back garden of the McGrath house looks across gently undulating fields to the raggedy, rocky tips of Bray Head, while several horses arrange themselves artistically in the landscape.
Anne Cloney's courtyard space on Sidmonton Gardens
is in complete contrast: a private and leafy enclosure where the walls are covered in clematis, roses and solanum. Peek in the kitchen window while you're there and notice that, instead of using tiles as a splashback for the sink, Cloney has installed a mirror, which reflects the garden - an idea that may be going home with some visitors, I suspect.
Flower arranger Una Whelan, at Sorrentino on Herbert Road, has a lovely balloon-shaped lawn surrounded by interesting shrubs and other plants - among them a near-black perennial cornflower (which I covet). A variegated myrtle lingers near the lawn, displaying its cinnamon-brown legs where Whelan has pruned away the lower branches. This device allows you to look through what would otherwise be a large, dense and eye-stopping shrub - a useful trick for a small garden.
Carol Bone, whose Victorian house on Sidmonton Square was built as a holiday villa, is also a floral artist (with venues such as the Taoiseach's office and Farmleigh often wearing her creations). Her small garden is full of pleasing combinations: the blue perennial cornflower (Centaurea montana) with the buttery yellow daylily (Hemerocallis lilioasphodelus); the pink 'Bantry Bay' rose nestled among long tails of pale-blue wisteria; great, fat hostas with fine, filigreed ferns - to mention just a few of her handsome partnerships.
An extra bit of land, annexed from the house next door, contains a pocket-handkerchief potager: four perfect box-edged beds filled with vegetables. It's her minuscule tribute to the famous three-acre ornamental kitchen garden at Villandry, in the Loire Valley - and a useful lesson in how a drop or two of grandeur may be comfortably contained in a pint-sized patch.
Bray Garden Walkabout, for Bray Meals on Wheels, takes place next Saturday, 10am-6pm. Free parking along the seafront; pay and display on most other roads. Entry to individual gardens €5; day ticket for all gardens €20. Teas, plant sales. Light lunch at Sorrentino, Herbert Road, noon-3pm. Delgany and District Horticultural Show is at St Thomas's Community College, Novara Road, 3pm-5pm. Admission €2. Brochures and maps of the walkabout are available in local garden centres or from Carol Bone (01-2868623) or Joan Codyre (01-2860423)