63 [Stradbally] is very picturesque. It’s kind of down in a valley and if you come in from, the Carlow side, you come across what is known as the Windy Gap, and it’s the most beautiful view that you can imagine, because you’re looking down into the town and you’re looking across the countryside, and it’s absolutely breath-taking. We have the rock of Dunamaise, which even my eighty-year old aunt has climbed. And the view from the top of that is absolutely amazing in the summertime. Then you have the lake just behind the entrance to the Art House, around the side not the main entrance. It’s in Stradbally Hall. The lake with swans, birds and other wildlife. Their delight in nature was mirrored in their love of gardening. Several participants described their gardens and the work they carried out there as a significant part of their everyday lives. They derive much pleasure from simply viewing the fruit of their labour, arranging shrubbery, growing and harvesting vegetables and encountering wildlife. Sentiment plays an important role in developing an attachment to place. This sentimental attachment to place may be based both on symbolic representation or “markers” (in Stradbally’s case the Windy Gap or the Electric Picnic arts and music festival) but also on myths, narratives and collective memories. These various sources of attachment are frequently overlain on one another, and feed into a positive attachment to place. 49