The 4th August 2012 - my 61st birthday. My wife and I had long planned a weekend in Dublin, Ireland. When we called into the vistor centre in Phoenix Park we weren't expecting to be almost immediately offered a free conducted tour of the gardens of Áras an Uachtaráin - the official residence of the President - Michael D. Higgins. We would have been fools to have refused, so not long afterwards we were taken there in an Áras an Uachtaráin minibus to spend a warm sunny hour in the midst of great peace and beauty. What follows is not a comprehensive guide to the gardens - rather, it is a photographic record which captures some of the magic we saw there.

The Main Gates

The Peace Bell - erected to commemorate the Anglo-Irish Agreement. The wood is oak from both Northern Ireland and the Republic.