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Posts Tagged ‘Tipperary’

Afternoon Tea

Posted in Home, tagged , , , , on October 21, 2018| 1 Comment »

I’ve told you before about how some members of our community are fighting back, and doing their very best to stop the ebb of activity in rural Ireland.  Our community shop continues to thrive and is open for even longer hours these days.

Well, I’m delighted to tell you that another local group have come together and are hosting a variety of events at Redwood Castle.  They started the whole process on Sunday last with Afternoon Tea.  I popped along to take some photos that I could post here and hopefully, encourage you all to come along and visit.

 

Tea in a china tea cup

Lots and lots of home baking

 

Is there anything nicer that whiling away a few hours with copious amounts of tea and cake, in front of a roaring fire?

Woodburning stove in great hall at Redwood Castle

Numbers are restricted at the moment, so you definitely need to book well in advance.  Contact them via email redwoodcastleireland@gmail.com or call 00 353 89 480 1888.

I could go into a ton of detail on the history of the Castle, but I’d rather just say you should try to incorporate a guided tour with your afternoon tea.  Ger, the guide, is brilliant at telling the history of the Castle.

Stunning views across Co. Tipperary

Other forthcoming events planned for the Castle are an upholstery class in November (which I believe is already booked out), and then on 8th and 9th December there will be an artisan craft and food Christmas fair.. you could make a weekend of it!  And, of course, don’t forget we can do bed and breakfast for you, either before or after your visit to the Castle.

Cosy Alcove from which to admire the view

There are also major plans for various events in 2019…. watch this space.

We wish Coleesa and the team at the Castle, all the best with this new venture.

Isn’t it wonderful to see rural Ireland fighting back, and bringing more people into the area?

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A bucket list thing

Posted in Home, tagged , , , , , on October 10, 2018| Leave a Comment »

It’s on the bucket list.  In fact it has been on the bucket list for way too long.

I want to go up in a hot air balloon.  That is all.

I stood in awe for hours a couple of weeks ago as the Irish Hot Air Balloon Championships were held in Birr.  I was fascinated watching the weather along with them, waiting to hear if it was going to be a ‘Fly’ or ‘No Fly’ decision.  It was all quite technical but fascinating at the same time.

We were lucky that Monday evening was a beautiful evening, the winds were right, so it was a ‘FLY’ decision. We dropped everything and raced into Birr.

They are up, up and away!
There goes the parachutist
They are coming into land
And they are down.

Aren’t they just magical?

There was a very enthusiastic chap who jumped out and parachuted back down!

And then I was lucky enough to be able to capture them on an early morning flight rom our kitchen.

Early morning flight over Tipperary countryside.

 

Early morning flight in the mist.

Someday that bucket list ‘tick’ will be marked.

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We are in safe hands

Posted in Home, tagged , , , on July 19, 2015| Leave a Comment »

I just had to share this wonderful image.

Yesterday, the sun shone here in Tipperary, and so we sat outside for a late breakfast.  As we did so I spotted our neighbour’s son walk through the field of cattle.  This young man must be now about 18 or 19 years old.  I’ve watched him walk the fields with his Grandad since we moved here.

I’m not going to name him, but any locals/neighbours reading will easily identify him.

Beautiful cows

Beautiful cows

He had no idea he was being watched as he walked through the cattle, stopping rubbing, patting or half hugging each animal.  He was so peaceful and calm as he walked among them, as were the animals, they never stirred, just waited their turn for a pat or a hug.

No I didn’t take photographs or a video – that I thought would have been so intrusive.  He was so at peace and at one with the animals.

If there are other young men like this guy going into farming, Irish farming, the land and animals are in good hands.

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Friday Photo

Posted in Friday Photo, Photographs, tagged , , on January 23, 2015| 3 Comments »

We’ve had a few gorgeous cold but bright days this week in Tipperary…. and some beautiful sunsets.

Winter Sky

Winter Sky

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Moving to Tipperary

Posted in Home, tagged , , on October 19, 2014| 6 Comments »

We have just celebrated 11 years here in Redwood.  Let me say it seems like only yesterday, and at the same time, it seems like we’ve been here forever!

Photo from the sales brochure

Of course thoughts drifted back to that moving day – 10th October 2003 – what a day it was.

Have any of you ever moved house?  It is a nightmare.

We’d been packing boxes in Dublin from July.  Anything we didn’t use regularly was packed and carefully labelled.  As the ‘moving’ day drew closer the packing grew more frenetic.

Our original day to move was 18th October, but with about 2 weeks to go, we were asked could we bring the date forward.  For the life of me I cannot remember why.

I called our solicitor and asked could we do this?  She spoke to the solicitor for this house who agreed.

Then, wait for it…. on the afternoon of 9th October – THE DAY BEFORE WE MOVE – the solicitor at this end, decides it doesn’t suit to ‘close’ the house the next day!  At this stage all our worldly goods were already on board the removal truck.  I am standing in an empty house on the verge of tears.

Thank goodness, I had a decent solicitor at my end who worked tirelessly to get it sorted…. and an hour later we are back on track.

We had a relaxing and pleasant evening at my sister’s house.  Early meeting with my solicitor next morning, sign papers and by mid-day we were on the road to Tipperary.

We got to Birr at 2 pm, as arranged, to collect keys from the vendor’s solicitor.

This is where the fun starts.

He refused point blank to give me the keys!  Said the money wouldn’t be in the bank til Monday, so I could not have keys til then.

I will never ever forget the rudeness of that man.  We spent the afternoon pacing the streets of Birr, not knowing a single person in the town, making frantic calls back to Dublin to our own solicitor.

The ignorant solicitor finally agreed to meet with me for handover of keys at 5 p.m., then changed his mind again!  This is where I totally lost the plot!

There were other people in the reception area of his office.  I was polite to them and apologised to them for the scene I was about to cause, but I completely lost the rag with this ignorant man!

I had now been waiting to meet with him for a simple hand-over of keys for 3 hours, I was justified in ranting.

He gave me the keys eventually – almost threw them at me, and made some very nasty remarks in the process.

By the time we got to the house – the poor removal guys had been sitting here for 4 hours waiting to unload!  And they still had to do the return drive to Dublin.  It was easily 7 o’clock before they were able to head off.

Buddy - black and white dog

We had also had our dog, Buddy, cooped up in the car with us for all this time (with occasional walks around the streets of Birr)…. what does he do when we bring him into the house…. you’re right he immediately did what boy dogs do…. a good way to christen our new house!!!!

Thankfully, I have never come across that man again, nor would I wish to, as I’m not sure I could be polite.

 

 

 

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