Windows on Nature: Town Trail in Bantry

A family natural heritage trail round shop windows in Bantry town and nearby places highlighting mosses and liverworts, lichen and seaweed – small, significant, but often over-looked parts of our local natural heritage. Find out also about Ellen Hutchins, a significant person in the study and understanding of these plants. Inner Bantry Bay is a very significant place for plants with diverse habitats and a rich flora. Discover fascinating facts and find another significant person who can help protect plants. Submit your family’s experience of the trail and there are prizes – hand lenses – to reveal hidden aspects of the plant world.
Shop windows in Bantry Town Centre and other venues. Free. Suitable for adults as well as families.

Saturday 16th August to Sunday 24th August

One set of windows will be plant-themed, based around the Festival’s colourful little series of leaflets on bryophytes, seaweeds, lichens, shrubs and trees. Going into the shop, you will be able to pick up the relevant leaflet.

Other windows will tell strands of Ellen’s story – as a special person, in a special place, studying special plants. On show will be her drawings, specimens, letters, books. See a microscope, baskets for collecting seaweeds, and a mannequin dressed in the costume of Ellen’s period.

Use QR codes to link to pages on Ellen Hutchins website with more information.

This project is supported by Cork County Council and the Heritage Council under the County Heritage Plan Funding 2025. It also has funding from the UCC Sustainability Institute.

For information on all Ellen Hutchins Festival events in Heritage Week see
https://ellenhutchins.com/event-listings-2/