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Posts Tagged ‘Fancroft Mill and Gardens’

The ＃MagicalMidlands

Posted in Undiscovered Ireland, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on April 8, 2015| 6 Comments »

That folks was the name (hashtag) that took over our lives when we had the bloggers here on a recent weekend trip.  I’d had a little bit of a rant about the organising of the trip, but ultimately I believe it went well.

This blog post is really going to be about ‘thank you’.  Thank you to all who were involved in one way or another.  It could not have happened without your support.

Thank you to Alfie who thought the idea of a bloggers’ tour was a good one, and who persisted with me in convincing Mid Ireland Tourism to go for it.  We love the area we live in, and want to help in any way we can to promote it and generate a better income for all others who live here.

Bridge

Bloggers:

Thank you to the bloggers who agreed to travel (at their own expense) and give of their time and expertise to promote the area.

Accommodation Providers:

I struggled a bit organising the accommodation but in the end “it all worked out on the night”.  Thank you to

Venues:

Perhaps I should have tried to visit less places – there were times when we were a bit rushed – but I was so enthusiastic to show off as much as possible!  I just wanted to give everyone a taste of what is on offer – and, secretly, hoped it would tempt everyone to come back and visit again!

Goody Bags and Tastings:

I really did ‘step outside the box’ for this, and major thanks must go to all the local producers who I asked and who without fail came up trumps.

A special ‘thank you’ to Ron Wise who came to my rescue and made a delicious birthday cake for Regula who was celebrating her birthday that weekend.

And lastly, but definitely not least, mega thanks to Siobhan and David at Le Bouchon Restaurant in Portumna who stepped into the breech and produced the most delicious picnic lunch for us to take on the mini-cruise on Sunday.

That’s it folks…. I will, of course, be sharing blog posts as others write them…. for more detail on what we did and how the weekend went check out

Of course, if you are in the midlands, and on social media…. we’d love to see you using the ＃MagicalMidlands hashtag…. let’s keep the momentum going 🙂

 

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Fancroft Mill and Gardens

Posted in Undiscovered Ireland, tagged , , , , on November 27, 2011| 2 Comments »

Years ago when we lived in Dublin, my friend, Sheena and I made it our New Year’s Resolution one year to be tourists in the city for a year!  How often do we live someplace and never go visit what’s in the locality?  That year was fun – one Saturday a month we took off and did something touristy!  Have you ever done that?

How well do you know your own area?  Throughout this country of ours there are such beautiful hidden places…. just slightly off the beaten track waiting to be discovered.

Fancroft Mill

Over the past summer I have been extremely lucky to meet with some people in our area who have restored and are running some beautiful properties.  I’ve shared with you before the delights of Bellefield House & Gardens.

Well last Sunday, we were delighted to be asked to a private tour at Fancroft Mill & Gardens.  I had been once before, but A had never been and I knew he would just love the place.

Marcus and Irene who have undertaken the mammoth task of restoring the Mill are just so incredibly passionate about what they do. The roof had to be replaced.  All windows had to be replaced – and you can see there are an awful lot of them – and nearly every window is a different size!

They have gone to endless trouble to ensure that whatever restoration work they undertake is utterly in keeping with the original.  They have been working tirelessly on the project since 2006 and you can see how the Mill has responded to such TLC.

There were just 8 of us there on Sunday afternoon, and Marcus answered all of our questions with great enthusiasm and delighted in showing us how everything worked.

Wooden teeth for grinding stone

These are the wooden teeth for one of the giant wheels… the top one – all worn away is 300 years old and had to be replaced with the carefully hand carved lower one.  This tooth is just one of hundreds that had to be replaced.

The Mill wheel was whooshing at an incredible rate as 40 mm of rain had fallen on Saturday!  The power of that water going through is phenomenal.  Marcus does have plans to try to harvest some of the power to feed electricity through to the house.

Mill Wheel

Water gushing through open sluice gate

Take a look at all this beautiful timber craftmanship.  All lovingly restored…. and yes, the grinding bits all work…. so you can have white flour, semolina and wholegrain flour… just all different grades of the same process.  (I never knew that semolina was just ‘semi-milled’ flour!).

Mill sacks

Next time you are in the Roscrea area between March and October…. definitely include a trip to Fancroft Mill.  And I haven’t even mentioned the magnificent gardens that accompany the house and mill!

Do you ever become a tourist in your neighbourhood?

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