Bluebells and Wild Garlic in Coole Park, County Galway

Bluebells and Wild Garlic at Coole Park, County Galway, Ireland

Can you imagine the faeries and wee folk coming out of the woods to cavort among the wild garlic and bluebells in this sea of Spring greenery in the forests of Coole Park in County Galway, Ireland?

This image appears in my book, In the Footsteps of W. B. Yeats at Coole Park and Ballylee, fourth in the Mystical Moods of Ireland.

Coole Park, the former estate of Lady Augusta Gregory, was also ground zero for the Irish Literary Revival of the early 1900s, hosting gatherings with the likes of Yeats, George Bernard Shaw, John Millington Synge and other key figures of the literary world.

Yeats spent around 30 summers in this area of South Galway, near the village of Gort, exploring and connecting with the mystical energy of the estate’s woodlands.

The stunning natural beauty of these surroundings inspired him to write “The Wild Swans at Coole” and “In the Seven Woods.” In 1923, he won the Nobel prize in literature for his work, and he remains one of the foremost figures of 20th Century literature.

My new book will be taking you on a photographic journey into the world of Coole Park and nearby Thoor Ballylee, the 15th Century castle he transformed into his summer home, and about which he penned his poems, “The Tower,” “The Winding Stair” and “Coole Park and Ballylee.”