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Bloom In The Park 2013

If you’re into gardening and the UK is just a little bit too far for you to travel to see the big flower shows then Bloom In The Park is for you. While it might be the Irish version of the more popular events like Chelsea Flower Show, it is in fact far more as Bloom also hosts a vibrant food festival.

So how did we get on this year?

We’ve been to Bloom In The Park every year since it opened. Most seasons we go at least twice, for example in 2012 I visited three times; once as a guest of Bord Bia and the other 2 times with the family.  This year however time was against us and we elected to travel to the Phoenix Park the once, on Sunday 2nd June last.

The hipster and superman had a great time at the Cupcake Camp taught by Sharon Hearne Smith and sponsored by Avoca in aid of the Children’s Medical Research Foundation in Crumlin. I finally got a chance to meet David Corscadden of Beyond The Wild Garden. I should have known we’d meet over cakes!

Fabulous Decorations Laid Out At #CupCakeCamp Wantsies On the Bone Handled Knife! #CupCakeCamp Sharon Hearne Smith Giving  Masterclass in Sugarcraft #CupCakeCamp Simple Samples On Display #CupCakeCamp The Mother-Lode Of Cupcake Decorations #CupCakeCamp Mmmmm Sprinkles #CupCakeCamp The Hipster & Superman Ready To Learn at #CupCakeCamp

Because of the crowds there wasn’t a hope of us getting near the Show Gardens when the workshop was finished at 11.15am. So we headed instead to the craft area where we found my friend Adam from Cook It Yourself food blog who incidentally is also the GIYer of the Year 2012. Himself finally got the oscillating hoe that he had been eyeing up for the past year. Great value too. I got a pic of a butterfly (below).

Butterfly

Anything Donal Skehan Can Do I can Do Better! Innocent Stand At BloomAnd I quote: “Anything Donal Skehan can do, I can do better.”

Much Love For Space Hoppers! Innocent Stand At BloomThe kids had a ball on the space hoppers that Innocent had at their stand.

Loved The Dublin Community Growers & Their Seed Bomb ClassWe loved the idea of the seed bombs that the Dublin Community Growers had. Now under serious consideration for a day on the Summer Project this year. Watch out for the next generation of guerilla gardeners!

Then onwards to the food village. I managed to catch up with Clarke’s of Stamullen and Donnelly’s Fresh Foods, both companies are very local to me so I was delighted to say hello to familiar faces and watch them at work. They were in the “Best In Season” tented area.  Indeed the “featured picture” on this blogpost is of the stand that Donnelly’s had in the tent. Clarke's Fresh Fruit Stand - Howayiz! Very Professional Display At Clarke's

Donnelly's Fruit & Veg Sharing The Tomato Love P-p-p-p-pick A Pepper

At this point the crowds in the food village were beginning to increase and I was eager to see what the rest of the producers were up to.  Unfortunately though the crowds were so bad I couldn’t get the (very compact) buggy around the food areas. The hipster insisted on sneaking into the Broderick’s Brothers stand to tell them that they were her heroes.  She came over all starstruck so I nabbed a picture with a very willing Broderick. Fair play to him, he made her day!The Hipster Nabs A Broderick Brother - Her Heroes. Starstruck

I tried, and failed, to get close to many of the other producers. The Keogh’s stand was very popular, not a chance I’d get close with my camera, let alone a buggy.  Himself held on tight to the boys so I could nip down and say hello to Nicola from The Big Red Kitchen, also a local and I was delighted to finally meet her & her one woman pep rally to the side (not pictured)!

Nicola From The Big Red Kitchen - Also Local To Us

We made for the main stage for a bit of a picnic and so that we could let the small man out to wander around. Superman!!!!

Super Man - Coming Through! We Found A Patch Of Green To Wander Around - No Mean Feat! Pile On - Kind Of Apt Actually!

You can see from the middle picture above it was getting more crowded so we headed up towards the Budding Bloomers area (designed just for kids) but couldn’t find space to sit down.

So at 1.30pm we headed for the car a bit disappointed.

Bloom In The Park is usually a great opportunity to meet with garden designers and food producers so here’s hoping that Bord Bia have more space to dedicate to it next year so that it’s easier to move around!

I'm an Irish mother to 2 boys, born & bred in Dublin, Ireland. I like to cook simple & fresh food for the family, with the family on a budget.

8 Comments

  • kathryn

    We thought there was a serious absence of seating in the children’s area – couldn’t work out how more than about a dozen families could fit in there. And even without a buggy we couldn’t get near a lot of people we wanted to chat to – including Clarkes so well done on that one, they were a dozen deep when we went past. It seems to be a bit schizophrenic – doesn’t know whether it’s a food festival or a garden festival and there isn’t enough space for either. Not to mention the need for a lot more hands on stuff in the craft section. Loved the opportunity for children to plant their own veg though.

    Now all we need is more opportunities to buy local food locally, and more local support for local producers.

  • jill

    We were there from 1030-115 on sunday too. Our friend Maisie is working with big red kitchen, and we husbag bought the blueberry tonic (errr, do we take it like a tonic?) and some pear & vanilla jam. mmmmm. We had a ball with the kids.

    At 1030 it was a dream we had Coffee Angel coffee and Glenilen frozen yogurt and had ample choice of seating. Even at 1130 or so the food producers tents were comfortable enough. The kids area was busy, but Dom had a spot to enjoy the Billy Bubbles show, and I even got a foldy chair for a bit. Theo had a bit of fun with Claphandies too (while hubby wandered off in search of meat to eat -honestly!)

    I barely saw a plant, but in fairness we cycled and didn’t stay that long so I could only buy some food items to carry. I’ve promised my mum I’ll go on a weekday with her next year!

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