Blogs from Birr, County Offaly, Ireland, Europe

Susan’s birthday! Of course, that means she gets to choose what we do today. We headed to Birr about 15 minutes north, and visited Birr Castle Demesne. This is a castle, still lived in by the Parson family who have lived there for over 400 years. The current incumbent is the Seventh Earl of Rosse (Brendan Parsons), Lady Rosse (Alison Cook-Hurle) and their family. The castle is situated in around 120 acres of beautiful gardens and parkland. We wandered along stone-lined paths, following the start of the Solar Trail, where information boards spaced to the scale of the solar system give interesting facts on the sun and planets; each step was the equivalent of 1.6million km in space. Once we got to Mars we turned onto the trail taking us towards the castle, finding our way ... read more

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 ... read more