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Sensory Garden at Dove House

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Located at Dove House in Abbeyleix, County Laois, the Sensory Gardens are for everyone to enjoy. The gardens were created by a team of people with intellectual disabilities and stimulate the senses.

Vibrant plants appeal to the sense of sight, while hearing is reached through wind chimes and a humming stone. There are also scented plants and those with interesting textures. This is a garden with a history, which provides a peaceful haven of spiritual and sensory nourishment and contemplation for the visitor.

Located at Dove House in Abbeyleix, County Laois, the Sensory Gardens are for everyone to enjoy. The gardens were created by a team of people with intellectual disabilities and stimulate the senses.

Vibrant plants appeal to the sense of sight, while hearing is reached through wind chimes and a humming stone. There are also scented plants and those with interesting textures. This is a garden with a history, which provides a peaceful haven of spiritual and sensory nourishment and contemplation for the visitor.

Previously a Brigidine Convent, this 2 acre site was built and planted in 1996 by people with intellectual disabilities – all participants at Dove House. Their work sits against the backdrop of lime trees, which were donated by Lady de Vesci in 1840. The aim of the garden is to make visitors more aware of their five senses – Touch, Sound, Smell, Sight and Taste.

The Fruit and Vegetable Gardens stimulate taste while smell is stimulated by the Scented Garden, which is planted with scented geraniums, scented roses, philadelphus, oregano, lemon balm, honeysuckle and Viburnum bodnantense. Visitors can wander through the hornbeam maze under the pear archway, which is under-planted with gooseberries, towards the Sculpture Garden. In the Sculpture Garden, there is a willow arbour and a mosaic has been started by the participants of Dove House.

An impressive feature is the Humming Stone with a hole carved in the middle of it. A person of any hearing ability can put his/her head in the hole and hear the resonance when others shout into the hole. The trickling water in the pond and fountain also stimulates the sense of sound. So do the chimes in the thatched summer house. A hornbeam tunnel was developed with visually impaired people in mind. The light draws the eye down the tunnel towards the fountain at the end. The sense of touch is stimulated by grass and pebbles underfoot and by the different textures of leaves and petals.

A little about us:

Located at Dove House in Abbeyleix, County Laois, the Sensory Gardens are for everyone to enjoy. The gardens were created by a team of people with intellectual disabilities and stimulate the senses.

Vibrant plants appeal to the sense of sight, while hearing is reached through wind chimes and a humming stone. There are also scented plants and those with interesting textures. This is a garden with a history, which provides a peaceful haven of spiritual and sensory nourishment and contemplation for the visitor.

Located at Dove House in Abbeyleix, County Laois, the Sensory Gardens are for everyone to enjoy. The gardens were created by a team of people with intellectual disabilities and stimulate the senses.

Vibrant plants appeal to the sense of sight, while hearing is reached through wind chimes and a humming stone. There are also scented plants and those with interesting textures. This is a garden with a history, which provides a peaceful haven of spiritual and sensory nourishment and contemplation for the visitor.

Previously a Brigidine Convent, this 2 acre site was built and planted in 1996 by people with intellectual disabilities – all participants at Dove House. Their work sits against the backdrop of lime trees, which were donated by Lady de Vesci in 1840. The aim of the garden is to make visitors more aware of their five senses – Touch, Sound, Smell, Sight and Taste.

The Fruit and Vegetable Gardens stimulate taste while smell is stimulated by the Scented Garden, which is planted with scented geraniums, scented roses, philadelphus, oregano, lemon balm, honeysuckle and Viburnum bodnantense. Visitors can wander through the hornbeam maze under the pear archway, which is under-planted with gooseberries, towards the Sculpture Garden. In the Sculpture Garden, there is a willow arbour and a mosaic has been started by the participants of Dove House.

An impressive feature is the Humming Stone with a hole carved in the middle of it. A person of any hearing ability can put his/her head in the hole and hear the resonance when others shout into the hole. The trickling water in the pond and fountain also stimulates the sense of sound. So do the chimes in the thatched summer house. A hornbeam tunnel was developed with visually impaired people in mind. The light draws the eye down the tunnel towards the fountain at the end. The sense of touch is stimulated by grass and pebbles underfoot and by the different textures of leaves and petals.

Contact
Dove House, Main St, Rathmoyle, Abbeyleix, County Laois, Ireland

Dove House Sensory Gardens are managed by the Muirioasa Foundation and can be visited by appointment only.