I love old secret gardens, hidden away behind walls where ivy trails the paths and the bustle of a city slips away. I stumbled upon Dublin’s ‘Secret Garden’ yesterday.

On a warm April morning when dog walkers and tourists stopped to chat, I was talking to a complete stranger about her two Bichons when I noticed an old gateway at the end of Clonmel Street, off Harcourt Street. If you don’t know our capital city, this is a stone’s throw from the centre and St Stephen’s Green.

A passer-by stopped to advise me (as they do in Ireland). No, he said, this was not the famous park, this was called the Iveagh Gardens.

So I had to take a look and here it is. A peaceful oasis in the centre where locals take their thoughts and cups of coffee. So quiet too - a silence broken only by birdsong and a young girl playing a guitar on one of the steps leading down to a lawn.

The Iveagh Gardens isn’t alive with bright flowers or splashing ducks. It is cool and green and soothing, where trees throw shadows across grass and wrought-iron gates in high walls lead to gardens at the back of Georgian houses. It is a glimpse into the past.

Apparently it was once the site of the Dublin Exhibition Palace in 1865 and now it has been restored and is cared for by the Office of Public Works. If you’d like a stroll through a historic garden or even a short cut from Harcourt Street to the National Concert Hall on Earlsfort Terrace, walk through the gates of the Iveagh Gardens and allow yourself a few minutes to drift back in time.

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(Associate link)