Day Twenty One – Saturday, 2 June 2012

Killarney – Castlegregory

Accommodation - The Castle House B&B

Temperature – 16 degrees

Weather – wet and miserable

Well, we didn’t have the luck of the Irish with the weather today and it rained most of the day.  The heavier rain occurred in the morning but we circumvented getting too wet by visiting Muckross House in Killarney National Park just south of Killarney.

Once again, we were spoilt by our B&B host at breakfast.  It is going to be very difficult to go back to reality after this trip.  The tables are laid out beautifully with white tablecloths, lovely china and little touches of homeliness which never fail to impress.  Today we sat looking out to the garden with a lovely bright green lawn and a seating area surrounded with pots full of flowering plants.  I tried white and black pudding with bacon, scrambled eggs and tomatoes.  I quite enjoyed them and our host said that they are having a revival in gourmet cooking in Ireland after falling away in favour for many years.  She was quite amused by this as she had this as a child and now sees fancy restaurants charging exorbitant prices for what she sees as rustic fare.  David’s Bailey’s Irish Cream came in  a tiny white jug for his porridge.

Breakfast...I asked for a small serve!

On Friday I’d bought a lovely Irish raincoat at Waterville and I told the lady now that I’d bought one the weather was going to be lovely for the bank holiday long weekend……I hope she can’t track me down!  I love my new coat (a purple shade) and with my bright mauve umbrella David and I set off exploring the grounds and shop before our tour of Muckross House.

The main entrance to Muckross House......can you pick me out?

The house forms part of Killarney National Park and lies in an estate of 26 000 acres.  It was built in 1843 by Henry Arthur Herbert a member of parliament and a member of English aristocracy.    The entrance hall is very impressive with many deer heads (the families practised deer hunting as one of the activities on the estate) and one very large set of antlers of an extinct deer one thousand years old found in a peat bog and subsequently mounted as the main exhibit on entry to the hall.

 Unfortunately, we were not permitted to take photos as the house is kept in subdued lighting and even temperatures to preserve the original furniture and fittings.  All the chandeliers are Waterford crystal and ninety per cent of the furniture is original.

The biggest event in the houses’ life occurred when Queen Victoria, Prince Albert and four of her nine children visited here in 1861.  The Herberts were given six years notice for this visit and the queen arrived with one hundred servants by train from Dublin.  The house was made ready for the queen with ornate sideboards made in Italy, local tables, Chinese hand-painted wall paper, a fire escape for the queen’s ground floor bedroom, conversion of the billiard room into a personal dining room and so on.  But this is the most interesting part…..the queen came for two nights!!

When the queen visited estates it was the usual custom to bequeath money or land as some form of benefit for recognition of a royal visit.  Sadly, in this case Prince Albert died some months later and Queen Victoria went into deep mourning and forgot all about Muckross House.  It was even sadder for the Herbert family who fell into hard times and went bankrupt in 1899. 

The rear of Muckross House showing the sunken garden.  You may be able to see the fire escape stairs below a bottom window which were built for Queen Victoria who apparently had a fear of fires.

It was purchased by an American couple, Bowers-Bourn, for their daughter Maud as a wedding gift (as you do!).  Maud passed away in 1929 and the estate was given to the state in 1932.  It remained shut until 1964 when it opened as a museum.  This was the start of the national parks in Ireland and it now forms part of the huge and stunning Killarney National Park.

The view down to Lake Muckross.

We then walked in the rain around the magnificent and huge gardens which overlook Muckross Lake.  Large grassed pathways lead many ways through the estate.  As it was still raining we made our way to the restaurant and had soup and coffee and wrote some postcards to the grandchildren.

Huge rhododendrons frame the grassed walkways.

An amazing array of plants and huge trees.

We then drove to Castlegregory on the Dingle Peninsular. It is a very small village and we were met by Sheila who was Housewife of the Year in 1983. Castle House is a lovely B&B with a four star rating and is part of the family farm. We settled in with a cuppa and home-made cake and chatted to the lovely Sheila.

As it is the bank holiday weekend Sheila arranged our booking at a local restaurant as everywhere was booked out.  The only time we could get was 9pm which was fine as it was still light.  David and I wandered to the large stretch of beach just down the lane and then strolled around the village stopping at a small pub for a cider and beer before the restaurant booking.

A evening stroll on Castlegregory Beach - Her Royal Purpleness!   My new all-weather Irish coat.

The restaurant, Pisces, was very well patronised by the locals and we chose scampi and turbot (fish) as our main meals.  Both were delicious.

It was then home and quite late, as we snuggled down in the cool temperatures.