Powerscourt House & Gardens - Japanese Garden

After visiting the Powerscourt Gardens last week I'm not surprsied it was voted "No.3 Garden in the World by National Geographic". Powerscourt House and Gardens are nestled in the Wicklow mountains near the village of Enniskerry. It's a short distance from Dublin and less than an hour drive from where I live in Kildare. 

Inside these spectacular gardens lies the "Japanese Garden" which was laid out over 100 years ago in 1908.

My favourite time to visit the Japanese Garden is during Spring when you can view the cherry blossoms and Autumn when you can admire the different colours of the Japanese maple trees. Although the gardens are stunning all year. 

We were very lucky as the sun was shining all day and the cherry blossoms were in full bloom.

The Pepperpot Tower was the kids favourite place in the gardens as they can climb up the winding stairs inside the tower to reach the top! 

We enjoyed the amazing scenery during our lunch outside in the Avoca Terrace Cafe. There is so much to see inside the gardens I'd give yourself plenty of time to wander around. 

For more information go to http://powerscourt.com/

All photographs in this post were taken by Smiles! Photography who I would recommend highly for these type of photos but also family photos as she has a unique way of making kids smile naturally in photos.

Japanese Courgette (Zucchini) Fusion Salad

Here's my refreshing Japanese courgette salad. I hope you like it. Let me know what you think! 

Ingredients:

1 courgette

2 tbsp rice vinegar (30ml)

1 tsp olive oil

1 tsp sugar

Salt and pepper, to season 

Black sesame seeds, to garnish

Instructions:

1.Wash the courgette and then grate. 

2. Place in a serving bowl. 

3. In a separate bowl mix together the olive oil, rice vinegar, sugar and salt and stir until the sugar is fully absorbed into the vinegar. 

4. Pour over the grated courgette and mix well together. 

5. Garnish with black sesame seeds. 

Tip:

If the courgette is large then double the ingredients for the salad dressing.

Serving suggestion:

I served this salad with oven cooked sweet potato fries and leftover roast chicken breast with milled dillisk sprinkled over it.