The Fitzgerald castle in Adare.

The Fitzgerald family were a powerful Norman family until they decided to back the wrong side and ended up losing everything. This fine castle is located just on the outskirts of the lovely town of Adare and a guided tour of this castle is well worth taking. All through the tourist season these tours are available and i highly recommend that you avail of one.

Looks like i have two lovely pals here. Kaitlyn and her family toured with me last Summer, and we did have a lovely time. The wonderful Irish Wolfhound was not a part of the touring party, but we mad his acquaintance on our farm tour. This photo was taken on the Muckross House farm tour in Killarney where you can visit restored farm cottages and enjoy learning at first hand just how life used to be not too long ago in Ireland. You can see all the farm animals, visit four different farm cottages, and see the farmers wives at work, making home made bread, home made butter, and learn all about how their house work was accomplished, without all of the gadgetry that we have nowadays.
This is a tour that i personally love, and always enjoy. Obviously Kaitlyn enjoyed it too.

As i write, i am listening to a howling gale outside, and making sure that today i do not venture far from home. It is a wild, wet, and windy one indeed. Surprisingly, it is not too cold, and so far we have escaped low temperatures, unlike what i hear is happening in many of the northern states in the USA, and elsewhere.

This is the time of the year when i am engaged in planning vacations for people who wish to visit Ireland this coming season. We do have available dates still, so if you are interested in making an enquiry,then let me know as soon as possible. I hate to disappoint anybody.

Touring West and South West of Ireland with chauffeuriven/private car and driver vacations

Marcie, Johnna, Karen and Robin,under this magnificent old tree in the gardens at Muckross House in Killarney the other day. 

These gardens were especially prepared for the arrival of Queen Victoria when she visited Killarney back in the eighteen hundreds. The assortment of lovely flowers and shrubs and trees here make Muckross House a must to visit.
The ladies are all at home once again,safe and well, after their Irish adventure. I do miss them all, as they were great company, and we laughed a lot.

I start my next tour this coming Wednesday with two couples from Milton Mass. I know that they are all excited after having followed my Texan ladies tour and they will be touring many of the same areas.

Something cropped up on this last tour which the ladies asked me to mention on my Blog which might be important for anybody coming our way. If you are bringing cash in the form of US dollars, beware of bringing One Hundred Dollar bills as they are hard to cash. There has been a big problem with these particular bills as there have been many forgeries. As far as i know all the other dollar bills are OK but even the banks do not want to touch the hundreds.
You have no problem with most credit cards, eventhough American Express are not accepted in a lot of places.

The weather has not been the best this month so far, and it is unusually cold here for this time of the year. This month has been a mix of rain and sunshine, but never feeling very warm. Make sure you bring your warm sweaters, boots, and light rainwear, and you will be fine. Hopefully we will see a rise in temperatures as this month progresses.

If you want me, or just advice, drop me a line. I will always try to help if i can.

 

Chauffeur Driven vacations in the west of Ireland

More photos from Killarney today. See below for earlier post.

Carol pictured in one of the cottages admiring an old kitchen dresser.

 Sylvia and Carol with this fine big work horse, with the cottage in the background.

Feeding the chickens.

Sylvia, testing the old iron bed.

It may have been the heat of the fire, but this farmer was enjoying the ladies company.

This photo was taken in the large farmers cottage in front of the old iron range (as we used to call these stoves)

The ladies in front of Muckross house (above top) and, tonight, just relaxing in their lovely new Irish Aran sweaters. Now everybody is going to want one.

Chauffeur Driver tours Ireland/Private car and driver

This morning we left Kinsale behind as we made our way to lovely Killarney. The day was bright and sunny with the occasional shower, but quiet pleasant. The picture above shows the ladies enjoying their breakfast in Kinsale before we left.

A narrow country road on the way to Killarney.

The old British fort in Macroom County Cork. This fort was in the heart of what was a very strong republican area.

Below:  The Ladies sitting by an open turf (peat) fire in one of the old cottages on the farmhouse tour at Muckross house this afternoon. This is a wonderful tour of preserved old-time cottages on the Muckross farm. Here you can experience what it was like to live on farms of varying sizes, a small farm, a medium size farm, and a large farm. This is another tour i would recommend highly when you are visiting the famous Muckross House where Queen Victoria stayed during her brief visit to Killarney.

Chauffeur driven tours in Ireland with private driver

The Iveragh peninsula, better known as the Ring of Kerry, was our destination today.  The picture above shows the ruins of the birthplace of Daniel O'Connell, that great Irish patriot who played such an important part in the emancipation of Catholics, and widely know as the Liberator.

Waterville was the favourite holiday destination for Charlie Chaplin and here we see Terry and DiAnn posing with the man himself today.

At the head of the peninsula overlooking the Atlantic, we have Terry and Di Ann enjoying the great weather.

Enjoying the weather is one thing, but enjoying a wonderful Irish whipped cream cone is the ultimate treat.Of course i could not have one as i had to take the photos.Such is life

Here you see DiAnn sitting on the steps which lead down to the river under the bridge in Sneem on the Ring. During the rainy season, there is a very strong flow of water here but at the moment it is only a trickle.Sneem is a lovely little town and a great place for a pause while touring the Ring. 

I took this photo at Moll's Gap. The view of the Black Valley and the Gap of Dunloe from here is really beautiful and just to add a little flavour, we have a Mommy sheep with her two lambs.

It is hard to get the full feeling of the depth of the Black valley below in this picture. In the background you can see the Gap of Dunloe between the mountains.

Ladies View got its name after Queen Victoria, in the company of her handmaidens, stood here and proclaimed the view as the most beautiful in the Kingdom. In this picture we have DiAnn and Terry with the Lakes of Killarney in the background.

I really like this picture of Terry and DiAnn once again at Ladies View.

                         Another picture at Ladies View.

Terry was delighted when we found this roadside sign as he had been getting more and more frustrated as we had not managed to meet a live Leprechaun. The main problem with Terry is that he really does not believe in them and they are hardly going to do him any favours.....and why should they?

Torc Waterfall, in the Killarney National Forest Park, is set in the forest at the foot of Torc mountain and is a very pretty waterfall. There was very little flow in it today as a result of the dry weather but it was still a lovely place to visit.

Just some of the Harley-Davidson motor bikes lined up for demonstrations in Killarney today.