A couple of weeks ago the Daughter’s Best Friend and I took the bus to Adare. It’s only about 20 minutes away and it is exactly what you would picture a quaint Irish town to look like, thatched roofs, castle and all.
The town of Adare is very old – the first mention of it was in 1226. One of the Abbeys still stands (Trinitarian), one is in ruins (Franciscan) scattered about the golf course (which itself was founded in 1900) and the Augustinian Priory is now a Church of Ireland Boys’ School.
One of the places Adare is best known for is the Adare Manor. This is now a very exclusive, highly regarded hotel. You don’t even get onto the grounds without either a hotel or dining reservation. I would have loved to go to high tea there just once, but all of my children are too grown to fetch much money and I suspect that my son and daughter in law would object to me selling my grandson. So, I only get to see this –
However, the Desmond Castle (same Desmond’s who built the castle outside my window) is available to tour. I waited until the girls had arrived to do the tour as I knew the Daughter’s Best Friend would absolutely want to go!
There’s a beautiful view of the castle looking back over the river but apparently it was too much to hope that I had taken a photo of it. So sorry.
This town is definitely worth a visit. There is also several super cute shops😁We had an early dinner at Aunty Lena’s pub, one of many dining choices in town. We were very pleased with our meals. No photos of course…
The Mother of myself arrives tomorrow and then we are off to Cashel for the weekend! Very much looking forward to this. Yes, I will be terrorizing the roads with my driving. Stay left. After we return it will be time to prepare for the great move north – hard to believe our three months here are at an end😥