Life January 2011
How does your garden grow? All the better for a good dyg...
Dyg.ie is an online Irish garden shop, based in Wicklow and run with the professional expertise of established garden designers Howbert & Mays (Anthea Howbert and Tig Mays). All the best elements of a garden centre with the added convenience of excellent advice, online purchasing and nationwide delivery, dyg.ie has beautiful ready-made planting schemes, carefully selected tools and accessories, clever green and sustainable ideas, all chosen to deal with the vicissitudes of the Irish climate. Might be too cold to be digging outside at present, but it’s the perfect time to put some spadework online into planning how stunning your garden will look later at www.dyg.ie
Speakeasy nights at the Exchange
If sweating up the hills and down the lanes of Westport is really not how you want to spend February, then The Exchange, the restaurant at The Westin has a cocktail bar with plush new velvet couches, very difficult to leave.
With late night Friday and Saturday opening until 1am and a guest DJ from 9pm, The Exchange's Speakeasy nights have regular half price Champagne promotions, excellent 1930s themed cocktails, good food including lots of nibbles available until late, Art Deco style decor and valet car parking.
It’s a grown-up approach to a great night out. www.theexchange.ie, +353.1.6451318 n
As you are now so once were we
Directed by Jose Miguel Jimenez, The Company brings theatre-goers on an odyssey through Dublin as they retrace the steps of James Joyce’s Ulysses in As You Are Now So Once Were We. On the Peacock stage for two weeks’ run from 26 January, it is described as a new way to reflect on ourselves, our culture and an attempt to understand Ireland – in Joyce’s own words, “a nation is the same people living in the same place.” The Company, Best Production winners at the 2010 Absolut Fringe Festival and just back from their first international tour, are a dynamic young company who make skillful, hilarious and brilliant work.
www.abbeytheatre.ie and +353.1.8787 222
Weekends for newbie triathletes at Knockranny
Knockranny House Hotel, Westport is best known for fabulous food but they have just started a new series of training weekends run by qualified triathlon coaches from personal fitness experts Zest. With swimming, running and cycling training using Knockranny’s Spa Salveo pool and the hills and beaches around Westport as training grounds, possibly the most enjoyable element of the package will be the dinner in La Fougère, or the thermal suite blast or a sneaky hot oil massage to get rid of aches and pains – although that probably isn’t the right attitude... Programmes run every month until August, €250 for two nights B&B with one evening meal, packed lunch, use of Spa Salveo, seminars and full guidance from an expert Zest trainer. www.khh.ie +353.98.286800
