Today started with a sleep-in, the first for what seems a
very long time! When we were finally all up, we had a local attraction to
visit. Andrew and Ramona live about 20km from Dublin, in a very pretty town
called Malahide.
In the centre of the town is Malahide Castle. This was built
in the 12th century but was extended in the 16th century.
It belonged to the same family for almost 800 years until they sold it in 1976.
To get to the castle, we walked through some beautiful parkland.
Walking around the castle was incredible. It is a
spectacular building, which looks exactly like a castle should look!
We did a guided tour of the castle, but you aren’t allowed
to take photos inside the castle. We then spent an hour or two exploring the
grounds. Andrew was with us; he has been there several times but still found
areas in the gardens he hadn’t seen before.
There is a Victorian-era folly – a chicken and pigeon house,
built to fit in with the style of the castle.
There are several very old trees, including an oak tree
which is over 500 years old.
We stayed in the castle and gardens until our need for lunch
was stronger than our interest what we were seeing – around 3pm. We headed to
the village and bought lunch, then came back to the castle grounds to play in
the children’s playground.
By 6pm, the sun was getting low and the golden evening light
made the castle and gardens look even more spectacular.
We headed back through the forest park for dinner – Ramona
bought some ice cream that made us feel even more at home!
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