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Breakfast Room
This is our breakfast area in here. This is done in an old Irish farmhouse breakfast kind of a style. You've got the terra cotta floor which you'll see in a lot of the old farmhouses. You've got the old hutch here where you would have seen the old plates and things. In a lot of farmhouses this is what you have — a kind of a cottagey feel that you still see in a lot of the old homes. And then you've got a great view out the back. And you've got different sayings and different pictures that go back probably a hundred years ago — old prints that were taking a hundred-plus years ago. So we've definitely carried that history all the way through. |
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Killarney, County Mayo Here you have the County Mayo Killarney suite. Again, you have St. Patrick, Croagh Patrick, so this would be the artwork. Anyone whose been to Mayo would recognize this immediately. You've got Croagh Patrick, and a lot of people would do pilgrimages there. You take your shoes and sock off and walk up in their barefeet. It was something you were threatened with as a kid, you know? "You'll be climbing Croagh Patrick!" Looking at the crest of arms of Mayo here, and then the history. It goes back to 1172 here, so talks about a lot of history, you know? Which is interesting. People can come in, they can have a nice weekend, enjoy the beautiful pictures, get a little bit of history, have a few pints, and a bit more culture. And then we've got the St. Bridget Cross. St. Bridget was the female patron saint of Ireland. Lived around the same time as St. Patrick. The stories go that they did cross each other's paths, but St. Bridget was the one who really showed Christianity through the cross and through making these crosses. It was always said that if there was a St. Bridget's Cross hung in each cottage it would bring good luck to the people who stayed there. So we put a St. Bridget's Cross in every room for good luck to all our guests. |
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Donegal Castle
County Sligo That's where grandfather was from, County Sligo. Yeats was from Sligo, so William Butler Yeats. Actually, I think they do a lot of writing workshops up there, during the summer. It's a basic room, but it's just got a nice feel to it. It's got a nice sized bed as you can see. Some nice furniture, you know. Beautiful pictures and everything is located with the Pub downstairs, you know? It's great. And then again, the history of Sligo. A lot of the rooms are duplicated as we do have 75 and we duplicated a number of them based on immigration patterns to the United States back in the 1800's. And a lot of people immigrated from Mayo, Cork and Kerry. These pictures here — now you can see why we have the shopfronts here. In Ireland, a lot of it is very, very colourful. You go to these country towns and it will be overcast and cloudy and the rain might be hitting you sideways which used to happen more frequently than not, and you'll be walking in the street but you'll have these very bright, vibrant, colourful buildings. And then you'll have palm trees which people are always amazed — Palm trees in Ireland! And the colours are very bright. I think the weather patterns over there were always a little tough, you know? But I think the bright colours, everything felt, Hey, a good coat of bright paint brightens up the day, you know? |
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Celtic Ireland Again, you have different paintings of different burial sites, you know? This here now would be in a farmer's field. I'm not sure which one this is here. A lot of these old farmer's fields, in the middle of nowhere, you'll come across some of these stones, which will be inscribed and have different writings on there. And you will have the old graves which go back hundreds and hundreds of years, which you'll see them everywhere, you know? It's interesting when you come across the dolmens or some of these stones that have some of these ancient writings on them. |
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Cashel, Kilkenny
Cashel. The Rock of Cashel. That's one of my favorite pictures. I've been there, actually, down in County Tipperary. It's up there, the Rock of Cashel, when you come up there and come around a corner and you just see this all, up above, overlooking the town of Cashel, which is just amazing. Breathtaking. See, there you go now with the colours. Kilkenny. Kilkenny's a good town. Good drinking town! But look at all the colors of all the different — and that's a typical street. That's what you'll see. So you really have that. It's a small little country. Narrow streets and the very, very vibrant colours. Every family member's name above the door. And then you've got the history of Kilkenny here. |
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The White Lady You'll see a lot of this actually — out where I live, a place called Malahide. There was a tomb surrounded by some wrought iron and a cross as well and a graveyard. We used to go up there. It looked similar to this in the back of the graveyard. And it was a lady who was — they call her the White Lady. She was haunts the castle. We used to go into — apparently she was married, widowed, and died on the same day. She was married in the morning, that evening her husband, Lord Tolberton, ended up going to the Battle the Boyne — I think it was around the 1600s — and he got killed. And so she was widowed and then she died — they said she died of a broken heart — that night. But she is buried there in the graveyard, there in the tomb. But it's interesting. Ireland's full of folklore and stories and history. |
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Home•
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• The Irish Cottage
Photo Album One • The Irish Cottage Photo Album Two • Ancient Athletics II Photo Album • Ancient Athletics I Photo Album • April Site Contributors Photo Album |
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All photographs captured from video stills using a Canon GL2. Photography credits: Joshua Heston |
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