Festival 2021: Saturday 14 to Sunday 22 August
The Festival starts in a week’s time, on Saturday 14th and this year contains a mix of self guided or DIY events, two online art workshops and in-person outdoor events in special places from Bantry through Ballylickey, Coomhola and Glengarriff to Adrigole and up to Kealkil and Gougane Barra.
With three ways of taking part, there is great access to the Festival’s activities on botany, botanical art and the beauty and biodiversity of Bantry Bay.
You can join in with the self-guided or DIY Festival wherever you are, knowing that many others are doing the same as you somewhere else. Each of the four days has a theme; mostly botanical, and mostly focusing on something small and rather special. A short video will be released on the Festival website in the morning to introduce the theme of the day and there will be suggested activities and free resources.
On Saturday 14th the theme is Mosses and Liverworts, Sunday 15th is Seaweeds and Lichens, Monday 16th is Creative Adventures with Leaves and Paint, and Tuesday 17th features Ellen’s Letters, and focuses on letter writing in the early 1800s and Ellen’s story in her own words.
The Online Festival has two Zoom workshops painting flowers in watercolours, with Sue van Coppenhagen on Monday 16th and Shevaun Doherty on Wednesday 18th. See here.
Live events start on Wednesday 18th with Wild Child Day activities for 6 to 12 year olds and their parents. Join a moss hunt and tree trail in Glengarriff Woods in the morning, and nature art sessions including flower pounding and leaf printing in the stable yard of Bantry House in the afternoon. See here.
Thursday 19th to Sunday 22nd have activities for adults and families with older children. There are guided walks, a kayaking trip, willow weaving workshops, a basket making demonstration, a reading of Ellen’s Letters from Summer 1811 and much more. See the Festival page for the full programme.
Events are almost all free but numbers are restricted and places need booking in advance, mostly through Eventbrite. (Some events sold out quickly and have a waiting list.) Public health guidelines will be followed and suitable precautions will be in place.