Ballyferriter on the Dingle Peninsula in County Kerry has the benefit of the Gulf Stream, Atlantic soft rains and a relatively under developed and inaccessible landscape. I go there every year for a few days and it is a magical place with mountains, beaches and lovely villages. The local Kerry people simply call it "the Kingdom."
Kerry also has a great number of traditional hedgerows which are crammed with the wild and the beautiful. Huge bouquets of Purple Loosestrife and Meadowsweet, Fuschia bushes laden with flowers falling over swathes of golden Monbretia and wild Roses wrapped up with garlands of pink bramble blossoms. Drunken bumblers and greedy honey bees are stuck into the rich pollen and some have speckles of it all over them. There are so many plants like huge garden borders that even the nettles and docks don't take over. Instead they are part of the meandering whole, in balance and in moderation.
These hedgerows are dying out in Ireland because of pesticides, over cultivation, new fences and building development. I love them. Shouldn't the remaining ones be preserved?
