As walkers take to the hills, plant lovers and botanists take to the Bantry Bay area of the south-west. Bantry, of course, is steeped in all kinds of history. Invasion, rebellion, disaster - the town has seen it all down the generations.
The gardens of the area also have something to do with our colonial past. The private places of those who came into ownership of the land, by whichever means, are still there to be seen.
Mr Nigel Everett, an Englishman who now lives in the Bantry area, has taken a big interest in the local gardens. He is a landscape historian and has a Ph.D on the subject.
Bantry and its hinterland - most famously Glengarriff - enjoy a micro-climate which enables exotic plants to grow happily in the area.
Nigel believes that there may be as many as 30 gardens of historical interest in the area. Their quality and condition range from good to not so good.
Glengarriff Lodge is one of the good ones. It is now being maintained privately and is the subject of a restoration programme.
The gardens at Drombroe, two miles north-east of Bantry with its house dating back to 1840, have an important water garden and a rhododendron collection which was started in the 1920s.
Glengarriff Castle, dating from the 1790s, has a garden which Nigel Everett is concerned about. And one of the great gardens of Ireland, in his opinion, is at Inchiclough, to the north-east of Bantry.
Detailed maps from the British years are available and have been invaluable in his research into these gardens.
As well as a major opus which will appear in due course, he has plans to put the Bantry gardens on the Internet.
The site will be a tourist page detailing everything about the great gardens, where they are located and times of access, etc.
His aim is to highlight a part our history that may still be salvaged.