Autumn seems to come later to the Burren than other parts of the West, perhaps because the billions of tonnes of limestone that surround us hold the summer's warmth for a while. But now the ash trees are losing the last of their leaves and we've had our first frosty mornings.

The intense build up to the summer profusion of the garden, trying to find a balance between natural abundance and unmanageable undergrowth, is followed by a sense of peace in August as the garden has reached its peak and we sit back for a while and watch. Whatever and however the garden has turned out there is little to change now. An active time then in October, cutting back and weeding the beds for the winter and now, once again, little to be done but enjoy the remaining seedheads and berried trees on the occasional sunny day or frosty morning. The yearly cycle is over, the more sensitive plants huddle in the glasshouse away from the frost, and it's time for us to sit down and start planning next year's gardening!

The Herb Garden is designed to be a mostly 'wild' garden in the sense that a majority of the herbs planted are native herbs that can be found in the wild in Ireland. Indeed, Sarah (the garden's creator and carer), grows much of our plant stock from seeds culled from wild or from seed saving schemes. We enjoy the abundance of the growth and the visual combinations of adjacent plantings. These may appear random and wild but are actually carefully planned and tended in order to keep the right balance. The culinary herb area is more controlled and traditional, helped by morning raids from the Tearoom staff for fresh herbs for teas, soups and decoration. We use the herbs for our range of organic herb teas, but the garden is meant also to be a place where people can see a wide range of native herbs growing and can appreciate both how beautiful they are and often how useful. In amongst the wildness we are creating more formal, sculptural areas within the garden with stonework and plant screens so that even in winter there is a structure. These create a series of 'rooms' for people to visit and enjoy, each a little bit different, rather than just one overwhelming mass of plants.

The winter is when all the planning and preparation takes place. Every autumn we move the plants that need to be relocated or aren't happy, plant new trees and then launch into little construction projects that have waited patiently all summer get started again. This year we've decided to take the fruit trees out of the Herb Garden and to grow them instead in large, wooden containers that we're having made. They will give an orchard effect to the courtyard outside the Tearooms where they'll get more sun and have more space between them. Speaking of the Tearooms, the rambling roses grew another 3 or 4 metres this year at the same time as they put on such a spectacular show of flowers. If we don't cut them back this winter we won't be able to get to the door next year. (Not a job I relish; got cut to shreds the last time I did it!)

This is the time of the year when we plant a lot of tulips to bring us some colour in spring, before the other flowers appear. Tulips, with their stong colours and definite shapes create a bold and cheerful splash of colour for our Easter visitors and make us feel that the Spring is here. A few years ago we bought over a thousand native bluebells which we painstakingly planted in front of the Perfumery. In spring we waited patiently and watched carefully for appearance of a wonderful carpet of blue flowers. Nothing happened. When eventually it became obvious that they weren't going to appear, we investigated with a spade. Every single one of the 1000 bulbs had been eaten by some small burrowing creature. So now we plant our bulbs in containers! If you wander off into the woods behind the Perfumery in Spring the whole place is awash with bluebells.

Placed there by necessity, our pile of builders sand proved an unexpected success as a children's attraction, so we've decided to build a proper sandpit this winter. *Everyone* loves a sandpit, we've discovered. It's now November and yet there are still children's footprints in the sand and little sand castles appearing each weekend. It's perfectly placed so that parents can enjoy their coffee and scones whilst keeping an eye on their more lively offspring.

We start off in autumn very relaxed and feeling that there is lots of time to carry out all the new projects we want to get done and gradually as Christmas passes and the January goes by we speed up and start realising reluctantly that not all the plans will get finished and some will roll over to another year. Some projects take longer and others are weather dependant. This winter we plan to lay a line of flagstones down to the Herb Garden so that wheelchair users won't have to contend with the gravel and at the same time to let the path branch off into the woods on the left where all the wild anenomes and primroses grow, making the first bit of garden less linear. We plan to finish the sitting circle opposite the pond and create a new self-contained room where the fruit trees will be taken out from, hedged with beech. (Possibly.) If you come and visit next Spring you will be able to how successful we were or weren't with our winter plans.

Sadie Chowen