deBurgh Gardens, Naas

Twelve years ago I recorded how I had looked through railings to the OldTown House gardens in Naas. Now, a week ago, I read that the gardens, now renamed de Burghs Woodland Garden as "the jewel in the Naas crown", have recently been opened to the public between Thursday and Sunday 9am to 4pm prompt. As a detour from a Naas hike (whilst my other half was exercising in a local swimming pool) I decided to investigate and found myself looking over the same railings but from the other side. A lovely place to walk but the paths are dressed with sharp stones so not at all bare foot friendly.

10km

Mostly I run without GPS (because it would be yet another thing to carry), but on Friday I ran, barefoot of course, along roads in Naas for almost exactly one hour and managed an average of 10.21 km/hr according to my GPS. The GPS didn't kick in for the first few minutes, but I reckon the total distance was about 10km.

I passed a car waiting for traffic lights and the passenger, a middle aged woman, hung her head out of the window to ask "was I alright?", as if to enquire whether or not I knew I hadn't got shoes on. I should have parried back: did she realise she was not wearing gloves?...

Oldtown Naas

Today I discovered Oldtown for the first time in almost 30 years of living here - I had a few minutes to myself in Naas so went to my favourite haunt along the canal. I found a wee path and went exploring and found myself standing at a gate looking into the gardens of Oldtown House. Such beauty so close to the centre of the town!

The wee path to the gates

Oldtown gardens from the gates

I regret the only camera I had with me was a smart phone with a scratched lens, so my pictures are rather fuzzy. So I did a bit of research and found a comprehensive video:

This link gives some history from which I quote:

"In 1696 Thomas Burgh acquired a property outside Naas called Oldtown. The site lay near a holy well where St Patrick reputedly baptised Oillill and Illann, the sons of King Dunlang of Leinster. In 1709, he designed and oversaw the construction of a new house at Oldtown, one of Ireland's first Palladian winged houses. The building comprised of a two storey central block flanked by two storey wings. The centre block was adorned with pairs of Ionic pilasters, rising to just beneath the windows of the first floor. The wings were likewise adorned with Ionic pilasters, all of which carried substantial entablatures. Thomas's masterpiece was to remain the pride of his descendants until the centre block was destroyed by fire in the 1950s and the family moved into one of the wings."

North-east perimeter

Google-maps - I was at top left

Ran home from Naas

Naas to home 10.6 miles according to google.maps in 110 minutes, barefoot - felt more like 20