Monday 28th August 2017
After a busy weekend on the site, many of our neighbours have vacated and today seems like a good day to pay a visit to Blarney Castle. Although it is a Bank Holiday back home, here it’s just a normal Monday, so perhaps we might avoid the crowds.
We drove the short distance to Blarney Castle and parked up in the free car park. Bonus! We were told on entry that there was a one hour wait to ‘kiss the Blarney Stone‘ but hey, when you’ve got all day, what’s an hour?
The castle was a 10 minute stroll from the entrance along the banks of the River Martin and the Cherry Walk.
We wound our way in the queue to the top of the castle and then had to make the decision – do we kiss the stone or not? It looked a little awkward laying on your back and then grabbing hold of two iron poles and lowering yourself even further down, in order to kiss the stone, but what the heck. We both did it!
Maybe we will have gained the gift of eloquence! Only time will tell.
Feeling very good about our achievements, we made our way back down the circular stairway. We stopped en route to look out from the castle windows, take photos or investigate various rooms.
After leaving the castle we wandered through the poison garden, hidden behind the castle battlements. We learnt a few things about some familiar plants we never knew.
The grounds of the castle are truly stunning, beautifully managed and extremely well laid out. Blarney House stands in the middle of the parkland and is very imposing.
We spent the afternoon exploring the main grounds and the Rock Close, a mystical place; encountering waterfalls, sculptures, as well as the magnificent fern garden, arboretums and pinetum.
