Kildare 2014

Ireland 2014

We spent our main holiday for 2014 in Ireland. Our first stop was West Cork, Baltimore to be precise. The trigger factors for Ireland were West Cork Whale Watching (Nic Slocum and his team) and the IWG Annual Seminar that we've attended for the last few years but just for the weekend until now. As usual for one of our multi centre holidays, there are a few pages so please click below for where you'd like to visit.

West Cork

West Cork, page 2

Dingle Peninsula

Dingle Peninsula, page 2

Kildare

Sligo

poultry

We arrived at Alison and Mark's and were made very welcome by both humans and animals.

tmore

Timore

riley

Riley

murphy

Murphy

sacha

Satyia

dexters

murphy

ss on ardis

As a special treat, I was allowed to sit on Ardis. I'm sure Mark would have let me do a bit more than walk around on a lead rope but 17,3 was a big of a long way down for me, not having been on a horse for many, many years!

horses

Wednesday morning and we were yet again lucky with the weather. First stop was to watch a few horses on The Curragh (Kildare is big racing country).

Next stop (after breakfast) was St. Brigid's Well. St Brigid is the patron saint of Kildare but also seems to be patron saint of a lot of other groups of people include dairy workers amongst many others.

Our next stop (and main place of visit today) was the Irish National Stud and Gardens. The first area we visited was The Japanese Garden.

sculpture

It took us through The Life of Man, starting from The Gate of Oblivion, through 20 stages with the last one being the Gateway to Eternity. On the way we went through all sorts of stages including The Island of Joy and Wonder, The Honeymoon Path and The Parting of the Ways.

bark

plant

As you can see, the foliage had started to change colour - it was a really pretty, calm place to walk through.

cones

There was a definite autumnal feel as we wandered around despite the sunny weather.

flower

Some of the paths were quite interesting (and a bit damp).

jam

Lots of chatting on the way around.

spiraea

I don't think this should be flowering at this time of year but it added a different splash of colour.

jam

There was the typical red bridge across a pretty stream.

japanese garden

From the organised, calm of the Japanese Garden, we then enjoyed St. Fiachra's Garden. St. Fiachra was a 6th century monk and is the patron saint of gardeners.

bark

mas

Studying form or studying the tree - who knows?

Jonathon admiring the Sea of Stars Sculpture by Anthony Scott.

berry

waterfall

There was a natural spring and Waterford crystal garden. Again, it was a beautiful place to visit.

leaves

Acers are wonderful trees.

leaves

The concept of this garden was to present a natural environment which inspired the sprituality of the 6th and 7th centuries monastic movement in Ireland.

m&a

Our friends, Alison and Mark.

Finally, a quick look at some of the amazing horses that were in the National Stud.

The horse on the right is Kicking King. To give you some facts he was born on 10 April 1998, Sire: Old Vic and Dam: Fairy Blaze. He won 12 races, including the Cheltenham Gold Cup and King George VI chase. I'm sure his owner, Conor Clarkson and trainer, Tom Taaffe were pleased with his career earnings of over Euro 1m.

A quick piece of cake for lunch (I had cheese cake so I could pretend it was healthy!) then back home and time to play with the dogs before tea and bed.

murphy

Murphy, tired out after a long day (asleep on my knee).

on the road to sligo

Sadly, after a yummy breakfast and a play with the dogs, we had to say goodbye to the dogs but, thankfully, not to Alison and Mark as they were also going to Sligo for the IWG Seminar.

As with everywhere we went, there were some lovely views on the way.

West Cork

West Cork, page 2

Dingle Peninsula

Dingle Peninsula, page 2

Kildare

Sligo

Back to Holiday index

Ireland 2014
We spent our main holiday for 2014 in Ireland. Our first stop was West Cork, Baltimore to be precise. The trigger factors for Ireland were West Cork Whale Watching (Nic Slocum and his team) and the IWG Annual Seminar that we've attended for the last few years but just for the weekend until now. As usual for one of our multi centre holidays, there are a few pages so please click below for where you'd like to visit.
West Cork West Cork, page 2	Dingle Peninsula Dingle Peninsula, page 2	Kildare Sligo
	We arrived at Alison and Mark's and were made very welcome by both humans and animals.	Timore
Riley	Murphy	Satyia

As a special treat, I was allowed to sit on Ardis. I'm sure Mark would have let me do a bit more than walk around on a lead rope but 17,3 was a big of a long way down for me, not having been on a horse for many, many years!
Wednesday morning and we were yet again lucky with the weather. First stop was to watch a few horses on The Curragh (Kildare is big racing country).

Next stop (after breakfast) was St. Brigid's Well. St Brigid is the patron saint of Kildare but also seems to be patron saint of a lot of other groups of people include dairy workers amongst many others.

Our next stop (and main place of visit today) was the Irish National Stud and Gardens. The first area we visited was The Japanese Garden.


It took us through The Life of Man, starting from The Gate of Oblivion, through 20 stages with the last one being the Gateway to Eternity. On the way we went through all sorts of stages including The Island of Joy and Wonder, The Honeymoon Path and The Parting of the Ways.

As you can see, the foliage had started to change colour - it was a really pretty, calm place to walk through.

There was a definite autumnal feel as we wandered around despite the sunny weather.
		Some of the paths were quite interesting (and a bit damp).
Lots of chatting on the way around.
		I don't think this should be flowering at this time of year but it added a different splash of colour.


There was the typical red bridge across a pretty stream.



	From the organised, calm of the Japanese Garden, we then enjoyed St. Fiachra's Garden. St. Fiachra was a 6th century monk and is the patron saint of gardeners.
Studying form or studying the tree - who knows?
		Jonathon admiring the Sea of Stars Sculpture by Anthony Scott.

		There was a natural spring and Waterford crystal garden. Again, it was a beautiful place to visit.
	Acers are wonderful trees.

		The concept of this garden was to present a natural environment which inspired the sprituality of the 6th and 7th centuries monastic movement in Ireland.


Our friends, Alison and Mark.
		Finally, a quick look at some of the amazing horses that were in the National Stud.
	The horse on the right is Kicking King. To give you some facts he was born on 10 April 1998, Sire: Old Vic and Dam: Fairy Blaze. He won 12 races, including the Cheltenham Gold Cup and King George VI chase. I'm sure his owner, Conor Clarkson and trainer, Tom Taaffe were pleased with his career earnings of over Euro 1m.
A quick piece of cake for lunch (I had cheese cake so I could pretend it was healthy!) then back home and time to play with the dogs before tea and bed.
		Murphy, tired out after a long day (asleep on my knee).
		Sadly, after a yummy breakfast and a play with the dogs, we had to say goodbye to the dogs but, thankfully, not to Alison and Mark as they were also going to Sligo for the IWG Seminar. As with everywhere we went, there were some lovely views on the way.
West Cork West Cork, page 2	Dingle Peninsula Dingle Peninsula, page 2	Kildare Sligo
	Back to Holiday index