A sunflower spectacular in West Cork

In Ballinascarthy village in West Cork, a field has undergone a stunning transformation into a vibrant sea of sunflowers, in aid of Marymount Hospice.

Ballinascarthy GAA Club have grown an acre of beautiful flowers, inviting the public to come and pick them. People are welcome to donate whatever they wish and the proceeds will be given to Marymount.

The idea was the brainchild of Michael Ryan of Ballinscarthy GAA, who was inspired when he saw a field of sunflowers in Dublin, and decided to create a similar field in West Cork.

“It was a brand new idea this year for us, and a totally new venture,” he told the Cork Independent. “We didn’t know exactly how long they’d take to grow, or when they would flower, so we didn’t launch the open day until we knew we would have flowers,” he said.

“In the early stages as the sunflowers were coming up, there was concerns that crows or pigeons may attack them, so we had to have a scarecrow for a while,” he said.

Luckily they managed to keep the predators at bay and now the field is in full bloom.

Michael said that since the field opened that the response from people visiting has been fantastic. “The feedback has been unbelievable, it’s been very busy. West Cork would be busy on a bank holiday weekend so we had a lot of footfall,” he said.

If you'd like to pick your own bunch of sunflowers, Michael says that there is still time before they are all snapped up. “I expect there’s one more week in it. There are no restrictions on how many flowers you can pick, but when they are gone, they are gone,” he said.

There’s an honesty box at the gate for donations and there will also be QR codes which can be scanned by phone. The fundraiser has already received over €12,000 but it will be possible to donate until September.