Chauffeurdriven vacation/Ashford Castle Cong/Powerscourt C ounty Wicklow

Ashford Castle, in the glorious sunshine this morning, as i arrived to collect the ladies to continue our Irish tour. Our first stop today was, for me, an unexpected and wonderful visit to the home of one of the Ireland's elite artists, Rick Lewis. The ladies had met him by chance in the castle last evening, and he invited them to visit his home today, where we had the privilege of seeing at first hand some of his magnificent work.

Rick worked at Royal Worcester where the renowned Harry Davis, recognised as the world's leading ceramic artist, took him under his wing, as he recognised Rick's flair and talent. In the picture we have Rick posing with this beautiful ceramic, which Kathleen could not resist, and which will be proudly displayed in her home in the USA. 

The piece on the left was especially commissioned for the Royal family, as was the centre one of Prince Charles, oddly enough bearing some fuzz on his upper lip. I am led to believe that his mom, the Queen, was not particularly happy about the tash.

I personally loved this piece, Queen Elizabeth 1, pictured here in the centre of the table. 

Rick's beautiful home near Ashford castle. If you are staying at Ashford, you can see, and purchase, some of Rick's wonderful work. Better still if you contact him and visit his home. That is something i certainly will do again. You can come with me if you so choose.

Have a look at Rick's website at

www.ricklewisart.com

We continued on our way later, and finally, this afternoon, arrived at the Powerscourt Ritz Carlton where the ladies are spending the next two nights. 

This hotel is built in a magnificent setting surrounded by the wonderful Powerscourt estate and gardens, with the beautiful mountains all around.

Finally, Powerscourt House, pictured below. Today was special, as i am sure you can see from my pictures.

More tomorrow as we travel to Glendalough.

Summer chauffeurdriven vacations in Ireland/ Private car and driver /guide

We have all kinds of road users here in Ireland, and many of them on foot, so if you are driving please allow for this. Like all of us Irish though, they are friendly.

The old church at Knock where Our Lady appeared in the eighteen seventies. It is a recognised shrine and similar  to Lourdes and Fatima, and many cures have been attributed to this Holy place.

Some of my clients enjoying their visit to the old farmhouses on the Muckross Park estate in Killarney. This is a really lovely and very educational tour where you can learn a lot about Irish life back in the early nineteen hundreds, and earlier indeed.

There is no nicer place than Ireland when the sun shines. There seems to be an expectation that we are in for a great Summer this year but one way or another, Ireland is a beautiful place. We do get our share of wet or damp weather but there are very few days when it rains non stop and intermittent showers are more the order of the day. Just make sure that you bring light rainwear with you, and something to cover your head. A warm sweater is important for windy days, or for the evening time when it cools down a little. It is quiet cold here at the moment but from now on it should be warming up little by little. Today i am dressed in a long sleeved shirt with a light jacket, and i am fine with that. The sun is also shining. The air here is like nowhere else......"fresh as a daisy" as we would say. You will never be suffocated by the heat here or frozen to death by the cold. I have travelled quiet a bit myself and give me Irish weather anytime. You just need to dress appropriately. There is no need to worry about bringing all of your wardrobe with you either. Smart casual is fine no matter where you go.....unless you have an appointment with our President or Bono.

I have been busy of late and have not posted as often as i would like to, but i will be on tour again from Thursday this week and hope to be back on the air more often again. Just do not give up on me.

If you need me then just message me.

This morning my latest group are on their way home to the USA once again after what has been a lovely few days here in the West of Ireland. I really enjoyed my time with them, and hopefully they will be back to see a lot more of our lovely country in the future.
The picture above shows the group in the grounds of the magnificent Ashford castle in county Mayo.
From the left: John, Vera, Rick, Claire, Carol and Joan.

The Fitzgerald home in the grounds of Turlough House just outside Castlebar in County Mayo. We visited here on Tuesday and it has a wonderful museum. It is well worth the visit.

The group pictured with Ashford castle in the background.

The town of Adare is famous for its beauty and we had a lovely visit here on Wednesday.

The world renowned Durty Nelly's pub in Bunratty in County Clare.We enjoyed a lovely lunch here. I had the lamb shank which was delicious.

This picture shows the might Bunratty Castle with Durty Nelly's pub in the background. The castle hosts wonderful nightly medieval banquets which are well worth visit.

A final shot of my group in their lovely rented accommodation in Doolin in county Clare.

From the left; Vera, Rick (with his new tweed cap), Joan, Carol, John and Claire,

On a personal note to my group

Thank you all sincerely for the lovely time i had with all of you. Lets get together again someday. There is so much more for you to see.

Your friend always

Dave