DIARMUID GAVIN - BARRACK HILL IN CARNDONAGH

Diarmuid Gavin talking at the open meeting in Carndonagh.

One of the most innovative projects for Inishowen is happening in Carndonagh at Barrack Hill Park. Diarmuid Gavin has been recruited to take on the daunting task of creating an amenity area that will satisfy the needs of a whole community. He is no stranger to this size of project though, and is currently working on an art gallery in Walsall and a maternity hospital in Cork. “Creating a park is something that we have never attempted before,” said Diarmuid at the open talk in Carndonagh last week. “Humans have an effect on the landscape and I like the idea of using the technology of the day to create designs. Garden design is one of the most creative activities we have. Fashion designers, graphic designers and architects all dare to be different and are compelled to move forward. Garden designing on the other hand can end up becoming a statement for someone to belong to a certain social order. The garden is then just used to impress other people and shows no sign of innovation,” he explains, and I couldn’t agree more.

“I spent year designing pretty gardens for pretty people and in the end I could do them on the back of an envelope, there was no passion in them. If you are not getting excited by what you are creating you are not going to learn” he advised.

It was at the RDS show in the 1990’s that Diarmuid realised that “pretty” just didn’t do it for him anymore. “I was displaying a cottage garden at the show with lots of beautiful bright red Achill sandstone when I got a visit from Finola Reid, who works in the media on gardening shows. She gave me the insight to knock on the door of the Royal Horticultural Society and put a garden into the Chelsea flower show. They told me where to go! But with persistence in 1995 I did enter a garden with no money. (Nothing changes, we are on the look out for sponsors this year and I have to start building it in two months!)

The garden was traditional as I gave the organisers what they wanted which was crumbling towers and Irish flowers, we won a bronze medal. The next year I returned with my idea of what I thought a contemporary garden was. I had inspiration after a few pints in a Dublin nightclub called the Pot. In the men’s room there were glass walls with water running down them (not the urinals!). I also liked the illuminated slabs that Michael Jackson used in the thriller videos. I incorporated these ideas and used structural plants around them. I thought it looked the bees knees! The organisers didn’t though and we got a letter saying that the garden couldn’t get any award. In retrospect though I think they were right” he says with a wry smile.

The experience was a great learning curve for Diarmuid and the following year he was back and winning awards. The most publicised garden to date was the bubble gum design with the brightly coloured plastic balls on sticks. Diarmuid has travelled extensively and absorbed influences from around the globe and hopefully with his innovative approach to amenity design Carndonagh will see something that is suitable for all age groups. “In Ireland we can have all four seasons in a minute so the design will have to incorporate some form of protection from the elements” he added.

I, for one, am looking forward to seeing what he comes up with and I am sure that everyone in the area will have their say in the creation of this innovative project.