Bunratty Folk Park ....

.. at Bunratty Castle, Co. Clare, is where 19th century Irish life is recreated ... and hubby and I visited the Castle and Folk Park on a day like today ... cold, cloudy and rainy !! Today - this weather - reminded me of our visit ...

I have, some time ago, shared with you, Bunratty Castle and I do remember promising to share the Folk Park. I also remember promising to show you all the inside of the Castle but that will have to be another time ..

After visiting the Castle, hubby and I walked through the rain until we came across this cottage, the home of a farmer from the rich lands of the Golden Vale of Limerick and Tipperary Counties ..

... went inside .. and found the 'farmer's wife' preparing a huge apple pie by the warming fireside ...

The home-made apple pie was being prepared for the tea room situated behind the pink cottage ... we would have loved to have tried it with our very warming hot cup of coffee ...

After our coffee, we walked up to the village ... the rain had stopped by then, thankfully ...

Of course there has to be a pub in every village - open to the public and 'loved by visitors and locals alike' ...
Onward .... passed a very wet donkey being petted by school girls ..

.. another group of school girls were ahead of us going into the lovely little church - moved here, stone by stone from Ardcroney. I was interested that the girls wore long skirts and wondered if they were their 'outing' dress code. No .. was the reply .. "we wear them all year round!"

They seemed to enjoy their outing and all made a B-line for the Church bell's rope which was pulled by what seemed to be all of them !!!! The bell tolled continuously !!

Leaving the girls, and the church behind, we passed a small field with deer - and real antlers/horns - have never seen them before!! Real Bambi's and Daddy Bambi's !!!

Turned down a lane to the vertical mill ..

.. then onto the horizontal mill ..

.. to the last building, Bunratty House, a late Georgian dwelling built in 1805 the 'type occupied by minor gentry in the 19th Century'. The house below is the home belonging to the Hughes Brothers who started the dairy industry in the 1800's .. I love that one .. it's how you would draw a house ... rectangle, triangle roof, chimneys with smoke curling out, rectangle door and square windows !!

Behind Bunratty House is courtyard filled with 19th Century farm implements - Talbot Collection ...

Making our way back to the entrance/exit we passed these 'Traveller Wagons' - main type of transport used in the past by ethnic Irish folk ..

.. and then haystacks, which I have also never seen before except pictured in story books ...

I can just imagine Little Boy Blue sleeping against this one !!

A fascinating place and well worth the visit !!

A rainy day in Ireland ...

.. of which we only had two ... but that didn't dampen our exploration of this beautiful country of green fields, castles and much more ... no time to waste ... we spent a couple of hours at Bunratty Castle, one of Ireland's major tourist attractions ...

... but before we walked through the castle gate set in the thick outer walls ...

... and were confronted with large cannons ..

.. and walked along the drawbridge to an unusual first floor entrance (designed to deter invaders) ...

.. we wandered about in the castle grounds ... in the rain ... getting soaked ... where there are farmers and fisherman's cottages from 'way back when' reconstructed ... (this one's thatch is roped down to protect it against the Atlantic gales) ..

... furnished as they were in those early days ... cute and cosy bed .. no wonder there's a baby's crib nearby .. which I'm sure was never empty !!!!!

Humans have got a bigger as generations passed. This is a salmon fisherman's home with a rammed clay floor ...

Every village had to have a blacksmith's forge ...

A poorer farmer's house typically found in Limerick and Kerry ....

.. which has a wooden outbuilding next door to house the loom of the weaver ....

.. it now houses a dinky woollen shop ... heaped with yarns of wool and woollen jerseys, scarfs etc ... all so beautifully made .. soft and warm ... but rather costly for our Rand exchange rate ... and the proprietor of the shop had a fascinating theory that if it stopped raining by midday then the next day would be perfect ... she was right !

Here is it .. Bunratty Castle .. in the rain ... !!

Will do two further posts - so watch this space .. the Castle interior - which was difficult to photograph as no flashes were allowed except in the Main Guard, which is now used for medieval-style banquets ... and the Bunratty Folk Park .. a fascinating walk ... in the rain .... but clearing ... through a time and age when life was simple.

And the lady in the weaver's shop was right ... we had perfect weather after this day !!

Skywatch Friday :

Early morning sunshine at Aughanure Castle, Co. Galway - October '09

Bear with me - have lots of beautiful Irish skies from our wonderful holiday in October to Ireland - such a beautiful country!!!

For more spectacular skies around the world visit Skywatch

"It's a long long way to Tipperary ....la la la la ..la la"

... but we got there !!!

In the centre of the town of Cahir ...

.. Cahir Castle was built in 1142 by Conor O'Brien, Prince of Thomond ...

...on an island in the River Suir ...


Peeking through the thick, rock castle wall ....

... shall we go inside ? .... 'rat-a-tat-tat' ... .. open drawbridge ... friends ... not foe ...

.. ooops .. cannons at the ready ... !!!

... drawbridge still up .. we are friends ... not foe !!!

... hope you're fit ... the steps are steep and very very narrow ...

.. and not too tall ... the doors are rather low ... !!

.... into the Great Hall which was rebuilt in 1840 ...

... look out through one of the windows ... is the enemy surrounding the castle ?.. oh no ... 'bad person' in the black ... flat against wall at bottom .. !

Phew ... 'bad person' gone .. we can relax ... and enjoy the view of the town of Cahir ..

.. and the surrounding parklands ...

... pretty, isn't it ?
Oh yes ..... if you still have the energy .. you can go on a parkland stroll or a longer hike along the hiking trails ....

.. you won't get lost ...