The Woodland Cottage

It is Lughnasadh, the last great festival of the Celtic Calendar! The year is tipping towards an end as Samhain marks the beginning of the new year… There has been much change here at Bealtaine Cottage as the canopy of trees has merged to form what is now truly a woodland. This evolution has happened at just the right moment in time as we have witnessed a terrifyingly hot summer and drought…the woodland gardens have come through the worst unscathed…no loss on anything! Beauty now lies between the stones of the great circle. I have flowers to plant here and…

How To Plant A Woodland On A Monoculture Field!

September 13, 2016September 13, 2016 Categories: Bealtaine Cottage · Bees · Cottage · Country Living · Earth · Gardens · WoodlandTags: garden · Ireland · Permaculture · planting a woodland · woods3 Comments

It’s been one of those incredible Autumn days, when one’s heart sings to the rhythm of it all…bees, butterflies and birds all in sublime togetherness across the gardens and woodland. I say woodland, because, as you’ll appreciate from the video, that is what it now is. The transformation has happened and it is wonderful to behold! Many of you have recently bought seeds from the website…I want to say a massive thank you and blessings! You really are wonderful in your continued support of Bealtaine Cottage…bless you one and all! Find me in the garden… https://bealtainecottage.com/ https://www.youtube.com/user/BealtaineCottage … https://www.facebook.com/GoddessGardens/ Private Website https://bealtainecottage.org/ To…

Developing a Woodland from Zero

July 22, 2016July 22, 2016 Categories: agriculture · Bealtaine Cottage · biodiversity · care for the earth · climate change · Collapse · Earth · EU · Trees · Wildlife · WoodlandTags: deciduous trees · EU · EU grants · Ireland · Planting trees · planting woodland · starting a woodland from scratch · trees · woodland · working model for land restoration11 Comments

From monoculture rushy land to woodland in under twelve years. Not just any woodland, but a food forest woodland, as you can see from one of the thousand plus trees planted above…a Greengage! This is the only lawn here, enjoyed by Jack! There follows a series of forty plus photographs taken here at Bealtaine Cottage in July 2016. The Bealtaine Cottage Land Restoration Project was started in late 2004. It was a challenge for one woman with zero resources to restore what was deemed by the EU as “Poor Land”…a term I vehemently challenge! There is no such thing as “Poor Land”…

Garden to Visit in Ireland…Unique…Permaculture!

June 28, 2016June 28, 2016 Categories: Abundance · Earth · Eco-Living · forest gardens · Gaia · Garden · Lough Allen Basin · Mother earth · Permaculture · Trees · WoodlandTags: Bealtaine cottage · cottage · Forest Garden · garden · Ireland · nature · open gardens · Permaculture · Places to Visit · trees5 Comments

Yesterday was a busy day for me as I worked tirelessly in the gardens, cutting, clearing and ensuring all the paths are open for visitors. I always carry my camera with me, so here are some of the shots I took on my walk around after I’d finished my work! It was a hard day, but, as you can see, well worth it. I continue today and will share pics later on! Love and Blessings XXX Colette at Bealtaine Cottage To arrange a visit to Bealtaine Cottage and the 3 acre Permaculture Garden created by one woman from monoculture land,…

The Watchers

May 29, 2016May 29, 2016 Categories: Fairies · magic · Summer · WoodlandTags: Aniekee Tochukwu · cottage · evening · fairies · Food Forest · garden · Ireland · nature · Oksana Rus · Sidhe · strs · the watchers · walk15 Comments

Here in the study the light is low as the day fades into the west. Ten O’Clock rings out as I take up my camera and head out into the warm evening. I have enjoyed visitors for much of the day, so stepping out into the evening allows me time to be quiet and absorb the ending of the day. “Be calm…calm as a calm lagoon, then you will look beautiful as a beautiful calm lagoon crowned by the Moon and sheltered by the brilliance of the stars reclaiming your royalty of regal life…” ― Oksana Rus The light…

Earth Day at Bealtaine Cottage

April 22, 2016April 22, 2016 Categories: Earth · Earth Day · Permaculture · Permaculture in Ireland · Spring · Uncategorized · WoodlandTags: climate change · cottage · Earth Day · garden · Ireland · Mother Earth · nature · Permaculture · planting · trees · tunnel · woodland12 Comments

Photographs (18 exclusive photos taken today) from the gardens of Bealtaine Cottage on EarthDay 2016. Words from the Earth Day network…on Bealtaine Cottage Good Life. We are now entering the 46th year of a movement that continues to inspire, challenge ideas, ignite passion, and motivate people to action. In 1970, the year of our first Earth Day, the movement gave voice to an emerging consciousness, channelling human energy toward environmental issues. Forty-six years later, we continue to lead with ground-breaking ideas and by the power of our example. And so it begins. Today. Right here and right now. Earth Day is more than just a…

Magic in the Fairy Wood

March 16, 2016March 16, 2016 Categories: ancient · Fairies · Garden · Permaculture · Trees · Uncategorized · Woodland · woodland walk · woodsTags: Bealtaine cottage · fairies · fairy · fairy thorn tree · garden · herbs · Ireland · nature · new growth · sapling · spirits · walk · woodland · woodland floor · woods7 Comments

On such a morning as this, there can only be one place to gently go…come with me as I venture down into the Fairy Wood at Bealtaine Cottage. Nature spirits are in evidence in the lush new growth. Magic abounds… Please consider supporting Bealtaine Cottage Bealtaine Cottage https://bealtainecottage.com/ Bealtaine Cottage YouTube https://www.youtube.com/user/BealtaineCottage Bealtaine Cottage Soundcloud https://soundcloud.com/bealtaine-cottage Bealtaine Cottage Twitter https://twitter.com/PermaGoddess Bealtaine Cottage Magical Gardens Facebook https://www.facebook.com/GoddessGardens/

Signs of Spring

February 3, 2016 Categories: Bealtaine Cottage · Bees · bog gardens · Cottage · First day of Spring · Garden · Ireland · Permaculture · season · Uncategorized · Woodland · woodsTags: A.A.Milne · Anna Karenina · bees · buds · child · climate · diversity · earth · fairy wood · flowers · Frances Hodgson Burnett · frogs · frogspawn · Ireland · leo Tolstoy · margaret Atwood · planting · pond · primroses · pussy willow · quince · Rainer maria Rilke · Spring · Susanna Clarke · temperature · The Secret Garden · Thomas Hardy · Vita Sackville-West · willow18 Comments

Life is stirring. Light shines higher in the morning sky. Thickening buds cast a haze over the land. “But there were certain early days in Casterbridge- days of firmamental exhaustion which followed angry south-westerly tempests-when, if the sun shone, the air was like velvet.” ― Thomas Hardy Colours emerge and birds sing out a joyous, higher note. We are officially in the season of Spring in the West of Ireland and the new energy is tangible, from rising in the morning to the growing lateness of dusk. The temperature seems rather unstable, as you can see evidence of in the…

The Cottage in the Woods

January 27, 2015January 27, 2015 Categories: biodiversity · Cottage · Gardens · Ireland · Permaculture · Permaculture in Ireland · WoodlandTags: aquilegia · dry stone walling · fedge · habitat · painting outside of cottage · Permaculture · rotting logs · stone steps · woodland4 Comments

Winter edges away slowly, with lighter mornings and longer days. The Permaculture Gardens of Bealtaine Cottage have emerged this year into the Permaculture Woods. However, I’ve got to admit that I’ve been flagging recently! A combination of the time of year, family commitments and basically just trying too hard to do too much! The saying goes, “spreading yourself too thin on the ground”, or something like that…well, that’s me! I’m done for! I would love to take a few days off and lounge about in my Jim-Jams, but…well, you know me by now…! So, in keeping with the time of…