A DAY BIRR

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Today Mary, Theresa, Pat and I took off for Birr for lunch and a walk around the Demesne (grounds) of Birr Castle. Birr is an up and coming town and the Loft Cafe was a great choice. It is a boutique setting with Irish made goods with a dozen small tables scattered throughout. There is a dining terrace but with the weather being what it is we sat inside. Mary wasn't hungry so she had tea and scones, Theresa had a bagel with cream cheese but Pat and I were famished and had a real meal. Pat had a lovely veg soup with a chicken salad sandwich. I had a beautiful ham, leek, small potato tart (quiche) with a lovely Waldorf salad. We also had an extraordinary Chilean Chardonnay.



We walked the Main Street, window shopping and stopped in the boutiques to browse. If I was adding and not subtracting I could have filled a couple of suitcases.



Then we went into the grounds of Birr Castle. The castle is inhabited so we couldn't tour it but the grounds were beautiful. There was a replica of a 19th century telescope, at one time the largest in the world. One of the Earls was the first to measure the temperature of the moon. Don't ask me how they knew it.



There is a recent addition of a children's play area with the most elaborate tree house I've ever seen. There were giant sand boxes and a huge plastic pillow where the kids could bounce.



Headed back to Mary's for light supper of a great chef's salad and cold cuts. Anthony, Theresa's sun was in Tullamore for the weekend. He works in Dublin in the insurance industry and is enjoying the job and life in the city. Of course he stopped in to see Mary and say hello to us.



We watched the telly for a bit and then headed to bed.

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Photos

BIRR
Site of a lovely lunch