Dubh Linn Garden

Nice pretty green space to enjoy on a bright day. Good place to bring a packed lunch and enjoy the scenery. Like a big kid I had fun following the twisty turny paths through the circular lawn. There’s also a nice sculpture garden and water feature. It’s quite quiet compared to other green spaces in the city. The Coach House building at the back of the gardens had a free Fresh Talent design exhibition during my most recent visit so worth checking out if there’s something on.

I can’t tell you how often I have brought junior here just so he can run himself ragged following the brick patterns in the grass.
It is a beautiful garden though in truth we never go for the garden itself but rather as a precursor to entering the Chester Beatty Library beside it.

It is a garden/​helipad that I had the pleasure to help in its construction in the autumn/​winter 1994. I laid part the lawn, I was one of many that shifted many tonnes of topsoil into the flower beds and planted the trees and shrubs that you all enjoy today. In the twenty one years since I have worked in this garden I’m ashamed to say I have only visited it once since it’s construction. I’m over due for another visit and I’ll like to thank the other reviewers to bring it back to my attention.
After posting this earlier today 8^th April 2015 I taught I give you guys some info on the garden which happens to double up as a helicopter pad. It has the capacity to fit three normal size helicopter’s or one chinuck helicopter. The plan was to use the garden as a helipad during state visits but I’m not sure if it has ever been used as a helipad. It is the only garden I know of that you will find lawn snakes in. So next time your in the garden pay attention to the details of the garden.

As a Dub, I am still surprised at how many spots I am yet to discover in Dublin. These gardens are gorgeous, especially on a sunny afternoon, hidden behind dublin castle. So peaceful.

After hearing about this place from a friend I decided I must find it. An escape from the escape I guess. Some times, sight seeing can be exhausting! I grabbed a few sandwiches and a few drinks, then ask my travel companion if she was ready for an adventure! She just gave me a puzzled look. I said with a mysterious voice «an adventure to find a secret garden!». She just gave me a «whatever, let’s go».
A right here, a left there, I won’t tell the secret passage to just anyone! OK, so I really have no idea how I found the place. So my companion says «this is it?!» frowning a little and probably expecting more. I said «yes, but do you here that?». She went with a «I don’t hear a thing». Exactly! Not that Dublin is very loud but over here it is nothing but silence. It’s a great place to take a breath and just relax for awhile. You’re surrounded by buildings and the castle, like their giving you a warm embrace. Maybe that’s a bit much but it really is nice.

Shhhh…
It’s almost like Dublin turns itself down several decibels one you enter one of the many gateways to the Dubh Linn Garden. It’s huge circular park with little special vignettes of statuary/​fountain gardens tucked into the corners.
With plenty of benches that line the edges, if the sun is out you can always find a place to sit and be warm, and the park seems to have avoided the general Dublin overgrowth-​everywhere-​phenomenon so it’s a vast green space that fills itself with the smells of lots of sunshine, earth, and plants while allowing the sky to play a major part on the experience.
I love bringing a book and my coffee and claiming a bench for a few hours. I even love the strange sculpture that is the Snakes in the Grass (as I’ve dubbed them), which can only really be appreciated from a high spot.
Bottom Line: I actually got a sunburn here a few days ago… and loved it!

Dubh Linn Gardens is probably the least known park in Dublin. Most people would just walk through it on their way to the Chester Beatty library, but they miss out on one of the quietest and most relaxing parks in the city. On a nice day, you might have some trouble finding a bench to sit on but the grass is pretty comfortable too. The park is also used as a helicopter landing pad, strangely enough, but not too often. If you want to spend an afternoon lazing around in the sun or just relaxing with a good book, you could do a lot worse than the Dubh Linn Gardens.

I pottered into the Dublin Castle grounds on a very hot and humid Tuesday. I needed some respite before I wandered on to meet a friend on the Northside for some lunch. Unsurprisingly the grounds of Dublin Castle was teeming with people. You know when you are hot and bothered and all you want is some space and quiet?
Well oddly enough those grounds that had tourists strolling aimlessly around also plays host to a little known part of Dublin. The Dubh Linn Garden
Behind the castle and the Chester Beatty Museum is what appears to be a quiet street, I phrased that wrong! It is a quiet street and just off it is this circular garden that is simple yet so quiet. I sat back and took in the magnificent surroundings and gathered my thoughts. There are many benches to sit on and a bridge to look at the garden from a height. It’s just another little paradise that is hidden in the city.