We had a real “lie in” this morning after our late night. We all gradually awoke and met up in the kitchen seeking coffee and tea. We had a lovely breakfast, taking our time. We sat for a bit going over the map, and plotting out our drives and activities for the next few days.

Eventually we got motivated enough to put on raincoats and ventured out to the nearby town of Adare. The weather sort of played peek-a-boo with us, with the sun coming out now and again but mostly spitting rain and occasionally pouring. We walked along a lovely river path along the River Maigue, a bucolic ramble with cows and old remains in the distance and swans and a bridge in the foreground.

We then walked over to an old cathedral, along with the monastery cloister next door. From there we walked through the quaint town of Adare, with no shortage of tourists going about. We quickly move beyond them and went on to Adare Manor.

There is a beautiful golf course, but we were headed to the gardens. We first went through the formal gardens which were lovely, but the magical part was the fairy forest. Round every bend there was something charming and unexpected. Someone had a great imagination setting things up. It definitively gave me a good many ideas for my own garden.

By then we decided a cup of coffee or something stronger was in order. So we went into the new facility to sit for a bit.

After some reviving caffeine, beer, and noshing we drove back to the house. While Stephanie prepared dinner Mandy and I got our laundry hung on the line to dry. Post dinner we all sat down to watch a hurling match between Limerick and Clare. Hurling is totally an Irish game, which somewhat resembles lacrosse. It’s a fast paced, frantic game. Very exciting to watch.