WILD MEADOWS AT SAINT ANNE'S PARK

WILD MEADOWS AT SAINT ANNE'S PARK


Today [29 May 2021]I decided to leave the city centre as quickly as possible because it was packed with people so I decided that it might be a good idea to visit St. Anne's Park but getting there was not as easy as I expected because the bus was delayed by traffic. Eventually the bus had to divert, via East Seafield Road, as buses could not pass along Mount Prospect Avenue because many cars were parked on both sides of the road.


The park has a number of features. It is crossed by the small Naniken River, and this, in turn, feeds the artificial Duck Pond. The Guinness family added a number of follies, a walled garden, and the grand avenue. Over the last fifty years, extensive walks, a famous Rose Garden and newer miniature rose garden, and Dublin's city arboretum, the Millennium Arboretum, with 1,000 varied trees, have been added.

Within the last decade, Dublin City Council has been restoring parts of the Naniken River to its natural state, creating wildlife habitats and wildflower meadows, and improving the path system. They removed some 1970s interventions, including a secondary pond and some rockery walks, partly due to problems with maintenance and partly to open up a vista from the James Larkin Road. The park management also increased car parking to alleviate traffic congestion in the surrounding neighbourhoods of the popular park.