News from Bog Cotton Gifts, Valentia Island - Latest

FROM old walkways in Drimoleague in west Cork, to wild flowers on Valentia Island, Co Kerry, heritage and the natural environment are being used increasingly to create jobs.
Research announced at a Heritage Council conference has shown that our built heritage already supports more than 30,000 jobs and contributes more than €1 billion to the economy.

Derarca Lynch, of Bog Cotton Gifts, Valentia, designs glass chopping boards, placemats and coasters featuring six of the most common wild flowers on the island. Her concept — "Put Some Irish Wild Flowers On Your Table" — was born out of a love of the beautiful, vibrant wild flowers which grow in profusion on Valentia Island and a love of photography. Given the natural beauty of the island, she doesn’t have far to go for inspiration.

Fuchsia blooms from June to October and it’s hard to miss the little red ballerina with the purple skirt waving along every ditch on the Island, she says. A stroll on the bogs at the back of the island in the early summer months reveals white fluffy heads of bog cotton waving in the breeze. On the sea shore, carpets of pinks, can be found, decorating every sea wall and cliff-side on the Island. In early spring when the lambing season has started, yellow gorse, or furze, lights up the landscape.

"It’s like nature suddenly turns on a bright light and the ditches are lined with the vibrant yellow flowers that radiate a sweet coconut smell," Ms Lynch goes on lyrically.

by Donal Hickey

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