monte palace gardens Jardim Tropical da Quinta do Monte Palácio designer: Jóse Berado, Eleuterio Soares owner: Jóse Berado Foundation garden style: Portuguese-Oriental size: 21 aces [8.5 ha] climate: mediterranean location: funchal madiera [source:...

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absolutely love it... i had never been but on saturday i took a stroll into Swords - just at the bottom of main street adjacent the swords castle - is where it's all happening [10am - 4pm]. It's not huge but it's enough to...

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one of my favourite parks. I have always gone here. The memories for me start as a child; to my first girlfriend and now as [ahem?]…. as an elder. I really do love St Stephens Green. Steeped in history [great info on all things dublin here]...

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never lets me down... I had a situation some time ago…. It happens regularly in Ireland… the guys were in Howth creating a garden and I was in Templeogue. The problem? it was raining in Howth but not in Templeogue.  So we have what...

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...waterproof cameras are essential this is my camera. The olympus U 790 SW. Why I am writing about it? Well, I have had this camera longer than any other in my career - and that includes disposable cameras! Outdoors-eee [or just me?] people have a...

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windmills... I thought this would be a boring day out. The ones you got ‘dragged' out on when you were a nipper. I also thought, at first, the €6.50 tour charge was a bit steep, I was [very] pleasantly surprised. This, had to be,...

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waste matters I met Catherine Costello, the project manager for waste matters at Damien Mulleys event. It was unusual, to see a website such as this represented at what was essentially a ‘how to use a weblog best‘ seminar - mainly...

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...making it look so easy Understanding that my only computer training was on a BBC computer 45 mins per week in secondary school, that I had no computer training in college and obviously no computer training thereafter - i've come a long...

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irish taxi ranks - could they be beautiful? This isn't Ireland, it's Maderia! I know we can't grow bananas in Ireland. I'm not suggesting we go bananas - but how about pretty[er] taxi ranks? Most Irish taxi...

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There are so many ‘organic' books on the market at the moment. Most of them in my opinion perfectly ripe for the compost heap. This one however is an exception and Sheherazade Goldsmith does a great job here. Its not very indepth...

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