Grace and flavour

DOWN Baltimore way, exciting things have been happening at Glebe House. Jean and Peter Perry have had their gardens open to the public for five years now.

Pay €4 into the honesty box by the stone pier and you can wander gently through the herb garden and potager bursting with organic vegetables.

For those garden lovers who are more impressed by voluptuous herbaceous borders, there’s also lots to impress in Jean’s cut flower garden. It was a riot of colour and texture when I visited last week. This garden was planted about three years ago to provide Jean with cut flowers for the bouquets she sold at the Skibbereen Farmers’ Market - roses, carnations and a glorious mixture of campanulas, salvias, daisies, eryngiums, delphiniums, astilbe, lady’s mantle, sweet william, love lies bleeding.

Last year, with the aid of a grant from the Harold Barry Trust, Peter and Jean created and planted a woodland walk, which culminates in a small amphitheatre that overlooks Church Strand Bay.

This year, visitors and locals alike are enjoying the new cafe, which opened a few weeks ago. Peter has built a conservatory off the dining room and visitors can also breakfast or lunch or simply do the crossword under the tree beside the herbaceous border, while the children explore the garden or peer into the hen-run. Brunch is served all day. There’s the full Irish or, if you’re feeling more adventurous, crispy pancakes with bacon and maple syrup or eggs benedict - two plump, poached eggs on a bed of creamy spinach.

Be warned, though, this is not the spot to dash in for a quick breakfast. Settle down with a pot of fine strong Fairtrade tea or coffee and the newspaper while Tessa or Flavie cook to order. The menu is simple and well chosen; a celebration of food from the garden and local area.

Temptations include borsch, pea and coriander soup, Glebe salad, a West Cork cheese plate, a couple of gorgeous tarts - maybe three cheese and cherry tomato tart, or blue cheese and onion marmalade tart. Leave room for pudding - how about Flavie’s chocolate cake, or plum flan with Clonakilty ice cream? You may also want to polish off some Tunisian orange cake, or nibble a piece of rosemary shortcake, or a bowl of fresh strawberries and local cream.

Walkers and sailors can order a delicious picnic; prices are very reasonable.

This is the sort of place you long to find on your travels around the countryside but seldom do.

Glebe Gardens open daily until end September, 10am-6pm. Admission €4 (under-16s free). Location: Skibbereen to Baltimore road: as you enter the village, Baltimore sign is on left, entrance opposite. Tel [phone], email [e-mail]; www.glebegardens.com