Days 381-387, 28 June - 4 July '15, Emo Court, Altamont Gardens, Chick-fest (8 new chickies!) and Final Days.

We can't believe it's our last week in Ireland and we're off to Spain tomorrow. We've discovered a couple of things over the course of the week... Game of Thrones (late adopters that we are) and also Netflix! Bless the one month free trial system. Had an 8 season Foyle's War marathon this week. Excellent show. Now it may well seem we've been planted in front of 60 inches of viewing pleasure all week - but not so! We also left the house for a super day trip to stately home Emo Court and Altamont Gardens. Emo Court is a change from most home and castle visits as there are no ropes. The home was gifted to the Irish people in the mid 1990s and the contents have been left as they were - beautiful furniture, objets d'art and art. We even discovered a new artist - Henner - with one of his red haired women. The gentleman who bought the place in the 1960s paid 45,000 Irish pounds for the property - an impulse buy on his way to the races. He went on to spend 5 million putting the home back together and renovating. Yes - he had a few bob. In fact, the first person to ever make 1 million sterling on the UK stock exchange. The other reason Emo was interesting is we'd heard of it at some point. It's where Father Browne lived for many years when the Jesuits owned the property. Father Browne is a world famous photographer who took something like 42,000 photos over the years, worldwide and has had several books published. He's also the luckiest Jesuit to ever live. Back in 1912 his uncle gave him a present - a first class ticket on the Titanic from Southampton to Cork. During his voyage he met a wealthy American couple in the First Class Dining Room and they enjoyed his company so much they offered to pay for the rest of the voyage on to New York. He sent a Marconigram to his boss, the Jesuit Provincial, asking for permission to continue on. The reply was swift in coming "Get Off That Ship - Provincial". I'm sure the good Father wasn't impressed - but he went on to live a long and happy life after leaving the ill-fated ship. The tour of the house, including an exhibition on Father Browne, proved fascinating - all the great art reminded us it's been too long since we've visited a decent gallery. We had lunch in the grounds and then headed on to Altamont Gardens. Neither of us have a green thumb but we do enjoy a walk and a profusion of flowers and Altamont's lake and gardens provided both. Established in the 1700s, Altamont and its gardens have always been tended by keen gardeners. In the 1850s the owners had a lake dug by over 100 men - not a luxury, rather an excuse to give employment after the Great Famine. There are over 1500 trees on the property and it's truly a botanic garden. We really enjoy the English Country Garden look with roses, poppies, lupins and so forth flowering cheek by jowl. Apparently they have a pair of swans on their lake, but they were not in evidence. We were however lucky to see a complete mating dance between a peacock and a peahen - stunning. A good week in all, nevertheless, the time has come as it always does to pack. Arrgh. The contents of the exploding back-packs have spread far and wide throughout the house, but we're 99% of the way there. Next stop? Three months. A proper unpack!