Working, Living & Travelling In Ireland

Category: Burren Lowlands

  • The New Look of Coole Park

    The New Look of Coole Park

    Dear Readers

    Coole Park is park very closely located to where we live, and we love going there for a walk or a picnic in the walled garden. I had noticed a while ago that there was some signage up that they were going to do some tree felling, but didn’t take too much notice.

    I did take notice when the beautiful avenue of trees was taken down, however I understand this was done for safety reasons, as some of the trees were rotten/diseased and from time to time  some branches would have broken off, which would have been very dangerous if you were walking under it.

    This is the way the trees used to look:

    Once that the avenue trees were felled, there were bigger plans to fell a large amount of Norwegian Spruce trees. The result if a significantly brighter park with ….fewer trees.

    Below are a few images. The largest transformation(first image) is across from the toilets in the park. This area would have been the back of Lady Gregory’s house. Someone told me that when they lived in the house, they could see the lake from the back of the house. The area that is now tree less, used to be their vegetable garden.

    Image of Coole house in its hay day. The house fell into disrepair and has been leveled to the ground many years ago. 

     Exiting the walled garden, I took following images.

    The play tree – the kids love it!

    Sown off tree trunk – Counting circles, I think the trees was about 80 years old.

    It’s of course a pity to see all the trees felt, but I think there good things happening too!!
    The kids spotted this fresh growth of Cowslip, which is a protected Irish wildflower: I took following info from the Irish Wildflower website :

    The yellow-orange flowers (8-15mm) nod in a one-sided umbelwhich is borne on a hairy, stout stem.  The individual flowers are comprised of five joined petals, each flower bearing orange spots in the centre, and are scented.  The bloom in April and May. The leaves are not unlike those of the Primrose in that they are wrinkled and hairy, forming a basal rosette. Like the Primrose, there are two forms of this flower.  (See Primrose).  One of fifty-six species which are given special protection in Northern Ireland under the Wildlife (NI) Order, 1985, this plant is now quite rare in Great Britain due principally to being overpicked and dug up for gardens. 
    This is a native plant and belongs to the family Primulaceae 

    This pictures was taken on the avenue , walking back from the lake into the direction of the car park.

    I took this last picture as it reminded me a  bit of the once avenue we had. It’s not quite the same yet, but over time the trees will grow,so hopefully when our kids are adults, their kids can enjoy this wonderful place.

    Have a great week ahead!
    Katleen

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  • Phone trouble , day 3

    Phone trouble , day 3

    Hi all,
    I wasn’t so sure what to write about this week, so thought I’d share my phone troubles! So I wanted to make a call from my land line earlier this week, and realized the phone was dead. I figured the batteries were flat and needed to replace the batteries. Plenty of batteries in the house, but to find 4 triple A , that’s another story. I rummaged through kitchen drawers, kids toys, one of desk sets that has lot’s of clutter in it,  to finally find 4 triple A charged batteries.. Hurray!! The phone  lit up, so I thought I was all set.. Though the phone was lit, there was no dial tone. I then thought that the phone was broke. I bought the phone just  over a year ago, and rang the shop I bought it from to find out if it ‘s still in warranty. It wasn’t by 5 days, so she was going to check. I then picked up our regular phone to discover also that that phone was not working( and there were no batteries issues on that phone).. OK.. so then I had to ring my provider Digicom. They bill me, however our friends at Eircom look after the network, so I logged a technical issue with Digicom and they told me it will take 48 hours before an engineer would appear.. In the meantime my husband arrives home and I tell him the above story. He’d seen a bunch of cables at the end of the road, and reckoned this was linked. Didn’t hear anything yesterday, and today when I went for the school run there was a hive of activity at the end of the road. Was talking to one of the workmen, and they confirmed they had to replace a number of poles. When it would be fixed, well .. that’s not so sure yet. It seems that some telephone poles cracked during the winds we had over the weekend, and this resulted in snapped lines.. The lady from the shop did return my call, and advised they would offer a new phone, very nice gesture, but explained it wasn’t the phone that was broke, and that it was the actual phone line.
    Eircom in action

    One of the poles that has been replaced 

    Other pole to be replaced, dangling off the crane.

    Let’s hope they can finish the replacing of the cracked poles, and our phone is up and running again..

    Have a great day!
    Katleen

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  • The last of the Indian Summer – part two!

    The last of the Indian Summer – part two!

     

    Hello all,

    So I thought that the we had had the last of our our Indian Summer last weekend, but I am glad to tell you we had another beautiful weekend. It’s been a busy weekend, as I had the usual Rugby training, then I started to plant the bulbs for my #Bumbleance fundraiser, took Rueben to #Coderdojo in Loughrea and as I really enjoyed our walk to the Coole Park, I decided to go back today with the whole family!

     

    Enclosing some of the pictures I took!

    Gort Rugby Team getting ready for training

     

    Getting ready to plant the hyacinth bulbs

    Alexander helping with #Bumbleance Fundraiser from Katleen Bell-Bonjean on Vimeo.

    To keep up to date of my fundraiser, check out my new blog here.

    Rueben at Coder Dojo Loughrea

    To finish off , we went to Coole Park. I really enjoyed our walk from last weekend, so I convinced Alex and David to join. The horses were no longer there, which I think is to do with the fact that we had some rain recently and the place will flood shortly. The pictures below are probably of a better quality than the previous once, as I lost my phone at the airport in Eindhoven on the return of one of my recent trips but thankfully got the phone back..

     

     

    Last week the water wasn’t as high as it was today

     

    Last week we were able to cross over here, but due to recent rain fall, it’s getting flooded

     

    view across the riverside at Coole Park

     

     

    The horses that were here last week , are gone.

     

    David and the boys
    Me and my two wonderboys:)

    So that’s it for this weekend! Thank you for reading my blog!
    Katleen

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  • Paddy’s Day and Mother’s Day in Ireland

    Paddy’s Day and Mother’s Day in Ireland

    Hello all,

    So today is Mother’s day in Ireland, so happy mother’s day to all the mums in the world!
    Mother’s day is celebrated around the world, but not necessarily on this day, as I found out here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mother’s_Day  and from my experience, in Belgium(specifically in Antwerp) there are two days that it is celebrated on .The Second sunday in May and or the 15th of August. Risk  is then it never gets celebrated as one always says, oh no, that’s not when we celebrate it!
    So to avoid that all together, I’d celebrate my own mother’s day three times, I gave her a call today to wish her a happy mother’s day and I”ll be doing the same again in May and in August! She deserves it!
    So, to get back to today, it was a most beautiful day to day, blue skies, sunny, but  not the warmest.
    We loaded up the boy’s go carts and drove to Coole Park. Coole Park was once the home of Lady Augusta Gregory, dramatist, folklorist and co-founder of the Abbey Theatre with Edward Martyn of Tullira Castle and Nobel prize-winning poet William Butler Yeats. Coole Park, in the early 20th century, was the centre of the Irish Literary Revival. Yeats, George Bernard Shaw, John Millington Synge and Sean O’ Casey all came to experience its magic. They and many others carved their initials on the Autograph Tree, an old beech still standing today. Although the house no longer stands, one can still appreciate the surroundings that originally drew so many here.

     

     
    Yesterday was St Patrick’s day, which is the celebration of the patron Saint St Patrick and the arrival of Christianity in Ireland. Watching the news, it seems it’s celebrated around the world, great to see all the various monuments around the world turning green! We live very near Gort, and not too far away from Kinvara either, so I thought I’d catch two parades( that should keep us going for another year!)
    This is a clip of a part of the parade in Gort
    And below are some images in and around Kinvara.
    As we are all off tomorrow, we are either heading to Portumna or maybe to the Clare Coast.. Time will tell:)
    Katleen

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  • St Patricks Day in Gort Co. Galway and more Job Updates

    St Patricks Day in Gort Co. Galway and more Job Updates

    Hi all,

    Hope you all enjoyed your St Patricks day, regardless where you are and whether you are Irish or not!We went to a local parade in a market town called Gort, as it’s the nearest to us!
    I quite enjoyed, I particularly liked the guy jumping on stilts!

    There have been a few job announcements, particulary in the Galway area in the last few days!
    Last week I mentioned about Bio Ware, and it looks like Galway is fast becoming the Silicon Valley of on line gaming, as ZeniMax plans to open a customer support centre in Galway, Ireland.  The Company’s new facility will provide customer support for players of their future massively multiplayer online games and is expected to result in the creation of hundreds of jobs over the next several years. 

    ZeniMax Media logoImage via Wikipedia

    About ZeniMax Online Studios ZeniMax Online Studios, part of the ZeniMax Media Inc. family of companies, is a premier developer and worldwide publisher of interactive entertainment software currently working on unannounced MMOG titles from its headquarters in Hunt Valley, MD. ZeniMax is a trademark or registered trademark of ZeniMax Media Inc. in the U.S. and/or in other countries.  For more information on ZeniMax Online Studios, visit www.zenimaxonline.com 

    For recruitment opportunities contact –
    eujobs@zenimaxonline.com
    For supplier and business opportunities contact –
    eubizdev@zenimaxonline.com

    Another development in Co. Kerry is promising 282 jobs, as  Lyon based International Prevention Research Institute ( IPRI) and US based Global Research Services( GRS) and Optivia Biotechnologies  announced that they to locate part for their R & D operations in Tralee.

    Regards,
    Katleen

    

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  • Visiting the West of Ireland ? On a budget? You CAN do it!

    Visiting the West of Ireland ? On a budget? You CAN do it!

    Dear Reader,

    It’s a fabulous morning here in Galway, which is in the West of Ireland!
    The sun is shining, blue skies, hopefully this is the beginning of a lovely summer….
    There has been a lot of talk of Ireland being expensive, so I thought it would be a good idea to give you an example of how you can stay in a hotel at budget rates, so you can enjoy the sights, food, people, music and much more..

    I live very near a market down called Gort , and every day I drive through Gort, I see this sign!

     Sullivans Hotel is situated in the centre of Gort, overlooking the square, adjacent to the bus stop, post office.
    Sullivans Hotel is known for its award winning Food, and all rooms have got tea/coffee making facilities, Power Shower, Very comfortable and Clean rooms, and it’s family ran.Cots available for children/babies and most importantly it is ideally located between Galway and Ennis, so you can use it as a base to visit the likes of the Burren, Ennis, Coole Park, Kinvara, Loughrea, Kiltartan Museum. Thoor Ballylee and much more.
    Once the railway is  re opened, you’ll be able to get the train from Gort to get just about anywhere in Ireland..

    So I had a chat with the owner to find out exactly what the conditions are , so here you go..
    Single Room Rate   ONLY 29 Euros – room only
    Double Room Rate ONLY 40 Euros – room only ( max. capacity is 2 people, so 20 Euro per person)
    Available Monday – Till Thursday

    If you are staying on other days in a Double Room( ie 2 people), the room rate is 75 Euros, and includes a Full Irish Breakfast( so that’s 37.5  Euro per person).

    You can contact Sullivan hotel on + 353 91 63 1257 or send a fax on + 353 91 63 20 57
    Or send your enquiry by email: sullivanshotel@eircom.net

    Hope to see you soon!

    Have a nice day!
    Sunny Greetings from Galway..
    Katleen

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