Ireland: Killarney National Park

My father is a master planner. He always lays out a killer itinerary. As he was planning this trip and considering the varied ages and interests of our group, he built a couple of 'free days' into the week. This proved almost unnecessary as we ended up doing everything together almost all day long everyday anyway! The company is just that great. So on the first of these free days, we all took a jaunting car tour into Killarney National park.

The park was, at its origin, an 11,000 acre estate. It was originally built by Henry A. Herbert. The Herbert's had the great honor of hosting none other than Queen Victoria. They made lavishly expensive preparations for her visit, developing parks and gardens as well as the great house. Not to mention all the preparations that were made for her entourage - she traveled with a full military compliment, a fire brigade (she was terrified of being burned to death) along with her crowd of servants and court people. Sadly her visit was cut short by the death of her husband, Prince Albert. She stayed just one day. The queen plunged into mourning and never gave the estate the publicity they were planning on. The family endured a great amount of financial difficulty as a result and ended up selling the estate. It passed hands through business tycoons and was eventually gifted to Maud and Arthur Rose Vincent as a wedding present. They lived there until Maud passed away in the 1930's. Her family decided to gift the estate to Ireland, and it became the country's first national park. The parks boundaries have gown to encompass over 25,000 acres. It was a fabulous tour.

For Henry A. Herbert- the original builder of the estate.

The first stop was the ruins of a church with an adjoining grave yard. The church was built around this Ewe tree, pictured below. The Ewe was considered good luck. Or rather, it was considered bad luck to disturb it.

We passed by the Muckross House on our way to our next stop. Good. Grief. This place...

Our next stop was at Torc Waterfall. It was a short walk up to a lovely 80 foot cascade. This country is so indescribably green.

Eden and Kevin have a special little bond. I never have to worry about where Eden is when Kevin is around.

And then it was back to Muckross House. We had lunch in the gardens and then enjoyed a tour of the great house. Sadly, no pictures were aloud inside. It is remarkable how people used to live as well as what was required by the people in service at these great houses. 365 windows. Over 50 fireplaces. Room after glorious room.

After the house tour, we took the shuttle up to the living farm tour. The living farm is a collection of restored farm houses that have been outfitted with furnishings and lovely people who demonstrate a little of what life was like back in the day. We ate some hot soda bread, pet on some ponies, and crowded into a smokey blacksmith shop.

It ended up being a fun, full day. Dad got us a ride home on a double decker tour bus. We sat up top, baby!