Europe Day 10: Ireland, Ashford Castle

Tuesday July 23, 2019

We left Ballyvaughan around 10:30 am and made our way across the Irish countryside towards Cong, County Mayo and our next destination Ashford Castle.

Ashford Castle was founded in 1228 by the Anglo-Norman de Burgo family. It was also once home to the Guinness family. It is now one of the top luxury hotels in the world and has hosted such guests as John Lennon, Prince Rainier and Princess Grace, and President Reagan just to name a few. The interior of the castle is only open to guests while viewing the grounds requires a reservation.

The main reason we went to Ashford Castle was to have Afternoon Tea in the Connaught Room.

I had made our reservations in May. Once we arrived at the gates we were met by a courtly uniformed gentleman who asked our names and confirmed them on a list. He then opened the gate and had us drive a winding road past a golf course to the castle. Once at the castle another gentleman directed us to the parking area. From to the parking area we walked across a bridge to the castle itself.

Oh, and the castle even has its own helicopter! The helicopter was preparing to leave the helipad in front of the castle as we were arriving.

We were greeted by a doorman who then checked our names off another list and showed us inside.

We had arrived almost an hour early so he invited us to walk around in the gardens while we waited.

I could really get used to this castle life!

Our reservations were for 1:30 pm. At this time the staff from the Connaught Room opened the doors and seated us. We were seated at table by the window that looked out across a formal garden to Lake Corrib. The Corrib River next to the castle connects the lake to Galway Bay and the ocean.

The next order of business was to select our teas. I chose the Marsala Chai while my husband chose the Irish Whiskey Cream. Both were delicious.

We were first given a small cup of strawberry lemonade with a delightful froth on top to tease our palate.

Our server then brought out our tea and sandwiches.

After we had polished off the sandwiches we were asked if we wanted any more sandwiches. I opted for another chicken avocado sandwich - those are the ones rolled in almonds - because they were fabulous.

    

We then received a basket of warm scones. We each had a cheese scone, a fruit scone and a plain scone accompanied by clotted cream, lemon curd, and strawberry and rhubarb jam. The cheese scones were my favorite. There were melty little bits of cheese in a scone that just dissolved in my mouth.

We finished with beautiful pastry desserts.

I had been worried we wouldn't get enough food for a filling lunch but that was not the case. I was almost too full to eat all the desserts! In fact, I saw that a number of people took boxes away with them with what they couldn't finish.

It was a delightful afternoon.

After lunch we drove across Ireland again to it's other shore. Our hotel for the night was at the d Hotel in Drogheda, a town north of Dublin in County Louth.

The room here was spacious too.

We got messy and used the extra bed as a luggage rack

We had a nice view of the River Boyne and the Boyne Viaduct.

My husband was craving a hamburger so we had dinner across the street from the hotel at Eddie Rocket's. It was bedtime after that!