Maggie Doyle Presents Mountain Notes

On Friday 25th February, Maggie and Linley welcomed family and friends for a special evening featuring Maggie reading extracts from her nature diary ‘Mountain Notes’ with musical accompaniment by the gifted, young harpist Maria Boyle and the exquisite vocals of Niamh Murray. The girls played traditional melodies and songs including ‘Eleanor Plunkett’, ‘Lagan Love’ and ’The Mountains of Mourne’.

Maggie took the audience on a journey through the seasons of 2020, reflecting on the beauty of the local landscape in the Dromara Hills and the peace that was to be found in nature during the trauma of the Covid pandemic.

MAY 2020 Extract

’The tree-top choirs of robins and wrens, black caps and blackbirds seem to call us over and over again these mornings and their songs are irresistible.

We continue to walk early but we are in no hurry. The tempo of our lives has been reset so we stroll between the hedgerows where everything is intertwined -briars, cow parsley, ferns, celandine, all making space for each other. In pockets beneath the brambles, bluebells add their simple, humble magic to the roadsides. …. And in the sunshine of these fragrant mornings, it is easy to forget the Covid storm.’

Maggie’s book is available in local bookshops or by emailing her directly magysfarm@gmail.com. Proceeds going to thedonkeysanctuary.co.uk