Our Ireland Tour; Avoca Woollen Mill

We visited one of the oldest remaining woollen mills in Ireland. There are still some hand looms but also mechanised looms too. 

One of the non mechanised looms...






The mill buildings appear to be built from stone I thought they looked so quaint! ( I found myself using this adjective and picturesque so often during this tour 😀) 







It had a stream flowing through which possibly had been used to wash fleeces etc in the past. 

Pretty little culvert built from rocks too! 

The mill was set in lovely gardens too.

And from the extensive gift shop I bought a soft merino scarf for me and a few gifts for friends. 

The plan originally was to replace a very much loved wool and cashmere scarf that I had bought in Scotland in 2008. Despite caring for that scarf, it had become the victim of a moth or silverfish. Avoca Mill had cashmere scarves but the price started at €122 so it was amazing how quickly I changed my mind about buying such a scarf! The price of the merino was much more reasonable as you can imagine and it is actually as soft as my cashmere scarf. 

The items for sale in the gift shop such as mohair throws, woollen coats, hats, toys etc were all gorgeous but I left them for others to buy! Lol 😂 

Our Ireland Tour; Killarney National Park

We signed up for an excursion described as ‘taking a jaunting cart ride into Killarney National Park’.

We discovered that it’s a horse and cart ride! 

Here we are in our jaunting cart...there were 9 of us in our cart...

Sometimes the cart behind us got quite close...

In the park people could hire canoes...

There were deer in the park but I was unsuccessful in getting a photo of them. But I did get a photo of these Irish Black cattle grazing.


After half an hour, we stopped and alighted from the carts and went to explore a castle ruin in the park. It is Ross Castle built in the late 15th century. 

There was a lake near the castle...

DH climbed up so that he could have his photo taken looking out from the castle. 


It was obvious that this place wasn’t habitable 😉

No roof for a start! Lol

When we walked back to where the jaunting carts were parked, I got quite brave for a city slicker...

It had become quite chilly as the afternoon turned into evening so on the way back some of us availed ourselves of the blankets provided in the cart. 

It had been another great experience! 

Our Ireland Tour; Sneem

One afternoon we visited the town of Sneem. I’ll let my photos do the ‘talking’.

This town also had lovely potted colour...

I loved this! 

There was even a plaque commemorating when President deGaulle made a state visit to Ireland to thank the Irish for their help defending France in World War 2.

There was a fast flowing river too...

And part of the bridge was mesh and you could see the river and those rocks beneath you. 

In the square there was a man and his pet. We had been told that the man is regularly there...

A closer look at his pet?

A very contented goat! 😍