Swathes of wild meadow flowers, loose-strife and meadow-sweet, tint the field below the Poets' House near Falcarragh, Co Donegal.
Beyond them looms Muckish Mountain, inscrutable, often cloud-capped, but a constant source of inspiration for the small hive of creative writing activity at its base.
In this pastoral setting in the heart of the Donegal Gaeltacht leading Irish and American poets work regularly with groups of visiting students, some pursuing a formal master's degree in creative writing, others participating in workshops and readings at a series of summer poetry festivals.
Two poet-partners, James Simmons and his wife, Janice Fitzpatrick Simmons, are at the heart of this venture, which has added a strong literary dimension to the growing artistic energy in this part of north Donegal.
The journey to the foot of Muckish has been an eventful one for them. Many will remember the bizarre sequence of events in 1996 that ended the first incarnation of the Poets' House at Portmuck on the peninsula of Islandmagee, Co Antrim.
There, James Simmons, a senior Irish poet, widely published and a recipient of numerous awards, had first conceived and established the Poets' House as a centre of excellence and study.
In 1994 it began offering MAs in creative writing validated and awarded by Lancaster University.
Derry-born Simmons, however, ran up against some strange and conservative attitudes, both from neighbours and from some - by no means all - members of the unionist-dominated Larne Borough Council.
His application for planning permission to extend residential and teaching space encountered delays, and there were local mutterings against the regular attendance of young, unconventional course participants, particularly, it appears, against the occasional black American students.
Finally, at the decisive council meeting on the planning issue, there were acrimonious and astonishing exchanges as one councillor produced a volume of Simmons's poetry from a brown paper bag and denounced it as morally reprehensible because of sexual allusions in one poem.
The planning application was refused, and Simmons, wounded and bewildered - in spite of the comic absurdity of the incidents - retired to consider his position.
A long-time friend, the Irish-language poet, Cathal O Searcaigh, based in Gortahork, convinced him to explore the possibility of relocating in Co Donegal. A suitable cottage was identified at Clonbarra, outside Falcarragh, and within 16 weeks it was refurbished.
THE Poets' House was reborn, and Co Antrim's loss has been Donegal's gain. The MA course continues, and there is year-round activity, with visiting poets-in-residence, seminars, workshops, and evening readings which are open to the public. Two graduates have won the Patrick Kavanagh award.
The facilities include accommodation for the poets-in-residence, an extensive poetry library and a large classroom/performance area, which is also the venue for monthly traditional music sessions. When the weather is suitable seminars ad workshops can be held outdoors, commanding views of the mountain and rugged countryside.
Simmons, who will be 66 this year, admits that the move from Co Antrim was a difficult decision. "We had some good friends in Islandmagee. It was a psychological struggle, but also a relief to get out," he says. "Attitudes here are just the reverse, and our neighbours are very nice."
Co Donegal was not unfamiliar territory for him. His grandparents were from Raphoe and, he points out, "I grew up in Derry, so Donegal was my playground all my life." Janice, an Irish-American poet living in Ireland for the last 11 years and the author of three collections, also had Donegal connections. All four of her grandparents were from Ireland, and one grandmother came from Gweedore.
The Poets' House has received assistance from Udaras na Gaeltachta, the Arts Council, Donegal County Council, LEADER, and the Irish American Poetry Society. The students stay in rented accommodation and inter-act with the community and the growing number of artists and writers in the locality.
The Simmonses have found home, and the River Owencarrow, to the east, has become a symbolic frontier. They visit Belfast for readings and cultural events, but the traumatic experience in Co Antrim still rankles. "Once we get over the Owencarrow and near home we feel better," he remarks.
Both have had new collections published in the last month, and their recent experience figures in several pieces. The new collection by James Simmons, The Company of Children, and that by Janice Fitzpatrick Simmons, Starting at Purgatory, are published by Salmon Publishing Ltd, Cliffs of Moher, Co Clare.