Tag: Dublin

Rathfarnham Castle

Rathfarnham Castle

by leeandpea ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

Rathfarnham Castle is an Elizabethan Castle in South Dublin. There’s a playground on the grounds, managed by Dublin City Council. I learned about Rathfarnham Castle during our tour of Drimnagh Castle – the castle at Rathfarnham was built by Archbishop Adam Loftus, who was one of the owners of Drimnagh Castle.

img_7303View of the Castle from the playground

Our visit

We arrived at the Castle just before midday on a scorching hot June day after a short but sticky bus ride. I’d planned to release Pea into the Castle grounds and playground to tire him out first but we were both a bit grumpy and sweaty from the journey so we headed inside to the Castle instead. Visitors can either take a guided tour or go for a self-guided option. After briefly toying with the possibility of joining the next guided tour with a group of seven-year-old school kids (the heat was clearly getting to me) I decided self-guided might be a better option for us.

This turned out to be a good choice, as we were able to explore the Castle interior at our own – okay, Pea’s – pace. He really only has two speed settings these days – Full Throttle or Asleep. So our tour was essentially just me chasing him down long, wooden floored corridors in large ceilinged rooms, steering him away from items of furniture helpfully labelled ‘I’m an antique’ and trying hopelessly to interest him in the ornate ceiling work, glistening chandeliers and stained glass windows.

img_7261Pea attempting to climb the furniture (not an antique!)

This all probably sounds immensely stressful, and it likely would have been, but for the fact that we didn’t encounter a single other visitor or member of staff during our time. No risk of awkward looks from strangers or being told off by staff (in fairness the front desk staff seemed very relaxed). We were also both cool, Pea was happy just running around and I appreciated the beautiful environment, even if I didn’t get to finish reading a single one of the information sheets in each of the rooms.

Just as we were leaving, the seven-year-olds were beginning their tour – perfect timing! We ventured outside then to try out the playground and have a snack. When Pea started to wilt, I poured him back into the pram and we took a walk around the foresty section of the park until he drifted off to sleep.

Essential info

Rathfarnham Castle, Rathfarnham Dublin 14. Open daily May – September, 09.30 – 17.30. From October – April the Castle is open Wednesday – Sunday and Bank Holiday Mondays from 10.30 – 17.00. Admission is 5 EUR per adult. Free admission on the first Wednesday of every month. There’s step-free access and a tearoom with baby changing, accessible toilet and selection of kids toys. Playground, tea room and exterior grounds can all be accessed free of charge.

Drimnagh Castle

Drimnagh Castle

by leeandpea ♥ 4 Comments

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Drimnagh Castle is a Norman castle in south Dublin, distinguishable as the only known surviving Irish castle with a flooded moat. I learnt of its existence after a session of sofa exploration (Google maps, how would I survive without you?). It’s walkable from our home and I just love a good castle. It’s closed on the weekends though, so, even though I wasn’t sure how Pea-friendly it would be, I decided to chance it on one of our Friday Lee and Pea days.

Our visit

Pea’s Dad was again able to join us for this day out which helped assuage my concerns about its suitability for Pea. As it turned out, it would have been doable for me alone but considerably easier with a two-adults-to-one-Pea ratio. When we arrived, a member of staff emerged from the gardens and informed us we could either walk around the gardens and exterior for free or take a guided tour for a small fee. She initially seemed a bit sceptical about us taking the tour with Pea, but once we’d established a spot to park his pram she seemed happy enough.

Our tour guide was Richie, as knowledgeable as he was affable. It was just the three of us and another family of three on the tour. This worked in our favour as the pace was quite relaxed and Richie was happy to wait for us to catch up when Pea would invariably break free in pursuit of his own entertainment.

I won’t do justice to the full history of the castle but here’s a mico summary. It was built by the Barnewall family (originally de Berneval, Anglicised to Barnewall) on land granted to them in 1215 by King John. It remained in the Barnewall family until the time of James 1st when it was sold to Adam Loftus in 1607. Loftus was formerly Archbishop of Dublin and Lord Chancellor of Ireland and also held another castle in South Dublin at Rathfarnham.

From there my timeline gets sketchy but at some time during the 20th century the castle was in use by the Christian Brothers and, as Richie wryly noted, it all went downhill from there.  In the 1960’s the castle fell into disrepair but thankfully restoration work was undertaken from 1986 to 1996.  Even better, the restoration work was completed by local young people as part of a community employment scheme. Since then it has been open to the public and used for film and television work, weddings and other events.

Richie did a great job of pointing out some of the distinctive features of the castle and bringing stories to life. I appreciate the macabre, so I loved seeing the Murder Hole (basically just a trap door above an entrance, used to tip boiling water over intruders). An unusual feature of the castle is the stairs leading from the undercroft to the great hall, as the steps turn to the left. The children’s room featured a hidden staircase through which they could escape to safety if the castle came under attack. The chandelier that hangs in the great hall isn’t an original feature but rather a prop from the film Excalibur. Gabriel Byrne, who grew up nearby, thought it looked so good there that he convinced the production team to leave it behind.

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The guided tour took about an hour and by the time we finished, we had about twenty minutes spare to enjoy the gardens and courtyard. These days, Pea is generally happy to have space to run around or to pull up grass or gravel and he had the opportunity here to do all three. The gardens are small but very pretty with a cute little bench at the rear.In the courtyard, there’s a mural of Eleanora Barnwell and her love Sean O’Byrne. I won’t go into the story of their romance but things didn’t work out too well for either of the star-crossed lovers and superstitious types believe Eleanora now haunts the castle.

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This turned out to be a surprisingly suitable family day out and I’m sure Pea and I will make a repeat visit in the not too distant future.

Essential info

Drimnagh Castle is at Long Mile Road, Dublin 12. Guided tours cost 5 EUR per adult and 3 EUR per child, we weren’t charged for Pea but I’m not clear at what age a child fee applies. The guided tour grants entry inside the castle building but the gardens can be enjoyed for free. Opening hours are Monday to Thursday 9.00am – 4.00pm and Fridays 9.00am – 12.30, the last tour on a Friday is at 11.00am. There are toilets on site and we left the Pea-mobile in the courtyard while we took the tour.

 

 

 

 

Introducing

Introducing

by leeandpea ♥ 2 Comments

I’m Lee, a working parent to one year old Pea. We are currently South London residents but a relocation to Dublin is in the planning. Adjusting to motherhood has not been a natural or easy process for me. A traumatic birth swiftly followed by a severe but (mercifully) swift episode of postnatal illness left me struggling to reconcile my old self with my new role as someone’s Mum.

For me, the road to recovery has very much about getting us both out of the house and engaged in interesting activities. In the early days I tried a bunch of the usual Mum and Baby offerings but mostly felt awkward and out of place at these. If like me you cannot recall the words to a single nursery rhyme, cannot sing to save your life and are so desperately uncoordinated that you can’t deal with simple baby signing many parent and baby activities will be a stressful and uncomfortable experience. Venturing beyond our local area and to the many museums, galleries, cinemas, theatres, concerts halls and other cultural institutions that London has to offer opened up a whole other world of activities Pea and I could do together that were stimulating for both of us.

I took him to places I’ve never been to in more than a decade of being a Londoner, like Wigmore Hall, the Royal Albert Hall, and the Old Vic. I took him to old favourites like Kew Gardens, Brockwell Park, the Barbican and Dulwich Picture Gallery, experiencing them differently with a baby in tow.  I got full benefit from both my National Art Pass and my Oyster card to visit areas of London I’ve never had a reason to go to before such as North Finchley, Deptford and Kingston. I’ve caught more films at the cinema than any previous year on account of parent and baby screenings. We’ve experienced some pretty surreal moments thanks to a baby opera (yeah, that’s a thing) and the questionable use of Tubular Bells during a space-themed baby class.

There were wonderful days were everything came together perfectly – smooth transport connections, conveniently located baby change facilities and the absolute serenity of a classically trained musician’s performance of Clair de Lune while Pea napped. We’ve had frustrating days of rail delays, dickheads on buses, explosive nappies and inadequate changing facilities and missing a performance I’d already paid for due to my poor sense of direction and a Google maps fail. Despite the sometimes shitty days, the upshot of all this was a renewed appreciation of my adopted city tinged with a sense of loss at the impending move.

Now that I’m back at work, our cultural adventures are limited to my one non-working day and weekends. The move is absolutely the right thing for us but departing hunting for similar opportunities in Dublin has offset some of the sadness at leaving. I’m pleased to have found some very promising options. So, all of this is a very long-winded way of introducing the focus of this blog. It’s a place to review and reflect on some of our last London activities before the move as well as documenting our Dublin discoveries. While this is first and foremost a record for my own benefit if it is at all helpful to anyone out there with a baby or toddler to entertain in London or Dublin then that is a bonus and questions on any of our activities are welcomed.