On Sat 31 August, Sanctuary in Nature had its most ambitious, and biggest, excursion to date.

Muhammad Achour had contributed the idea that we should include ‘heritage’ with ‘nature’ in our trips, and suggested that we could see how this worked by visiting Castletown House and its parklands in Celbridge, Co Kildare.

We advertised the trip on Facebook and through our usual network, and got a very good response, with a final tally of 63 guests and 11 volunteers. Many of our guests were Syrian families, but we also were delighted to welcome nine Albanians including six children, a Mongolian family of four, and a Zimbabwean.

Most of us left Mosney Direct Provision Centre by coach at 11 am, arriving at Castletown just after noon, where we met others who had travelled there directly. Some of the Syrians kindly brought delicious pastries that were enjoyed on the bus, and later with lunch.

The first event was a nature walk, led by Paddy Woodworth. We walked down to the lake at Castletown through the parklands, where we saw mallard ducks in moult, mute swans, little grebes, and a family of coot who were still occasionally using their nest, made of rushes and raised high above the water level.

Then we went down to the Liffey, which flows through the estate about midpoint on its journey from the Wicklow mountains to Dublin and the sea. We observed trees like oak, and especially ash, and discussed how ash is important in Irish sporting culture because it is used for making hurleys, but is now threatened by a disease. The trees gave us shelter from a very brief rainstorm. 

We also enjoyed the scent of meadowsweet, and learned how dock plants can ease the pain of nettle stings. And, of course, we ate some blackberries!

We returned to the stable yard where Victoria White and Eamon Ryan and their sons Jack and Tom had set out a truly delicious lunch, prepared by Abraham Phelan. The menu included falafel, humus, manakesh, vine leaves, spinach pie, shawarma chicken and pomegranate salad. 

We there then joined by staff of Castletown House, who were very welcoming, flexible and good humoured, as we divided up to do various tours, guided and self-guided. 

Everyone went at some stage to visit the palatial house, and found its architecture, furniture and history fascinating.

We also visited a play farm, a splendid doll’s house exhibition, and a children’s play area in the beautiful grounds behind the house.

We got back on the bus again by 5 pm, returning to Mosney by 6pm, after what all our guests agreed was a very enjoyable day. Thanks to the success of Muhammad’s initiative, we are now thinking of renaming the group ‘Sanctuary in Nature and Heritage’, and hope to do similar excursions over the autumn and winter, with the next one at the end of October or early November.

We offer our thanks to all the volunteers: Eilis, Andrew, Nicola, Tian, Áine, Victoria, Eamon, Jack, Tom and Hussam.

We are also most grateful to Sonairte for their continuing very generous volunteering and support, and to Pat Carroll, of Gerry Carroll Coach Hire, Drogheda, our good humoured, patient and very professional bus driver. And a very special thank you to Zoe Devlin for the kind gift of six wildflower field guides.

Feedback from our guests has been very encouraging: “good organising,” “ happy to be introduced to the heritage of Ireland”, “the spot you chose for the nature walk was amazing”, “the walk was organised well”, “food was great.”

Please watch this page for news of the next trip, which we are planning for late October/early November.

Muhammad Achour and Paddy Woodworth, organisers.

Photographs on this post and on adjacent album courtesy of Muhammad Achour

Muhammad Achour Trish Long Tian Yu City of Sanctuary Kate Kavanagh Nicola Winters Sonairte Donika Gega Tusha Victoria White Michelle Woodworth Simon Woodworth Eilis Cullen Enkhbolor Choijamts

Celia Willoughby