Machnamh / Reflection
The “Reflection” garden is designed to provide a source of quiet contemplation and refuge from busy everyday living.
It draws on the ancient connection of hazel trees and water in Celtic mythology, in particular the sacred stand of hazel trees that hung over the Well of Wisdom in the Otherworld, their falling nuts causing ripples of mystic inspiration to radiate outwards. Yeats also sought this ancient wisdom, by going “… out to the hazel wood /Because a fire was in my head”.
The rippling mood of serenity is evoked through the successive circles of grass, water, paving, dry stone walls (with built-in seating), lush planting and more water which radiate outwards to the final circle of hazel trees. Calming, gentle movement is generated by breezes rustling through the trees and planting and over the surface of the water.
