Canadian World Traveller Spring 2018 Issue

County Wicklow
We hit the pedal to the metal and veer
straight into the Garden of Ireland in County
Wicklow. The bold moniker is due to a collection
of fine garden estates.
At Killruddery House, the 17th century gardens
are the oldest in Ireland. A noblesse
nod to the Gardens of Versailles (the
Huguenet gardener modeled Killruddery’s
after Versailles), the long mirroring ponds
stretch beyond the grand residence which
has been a stand-in for movie blockbusters,
among them “The Tudors.” In the garden,
guests enjoy tea afternoons and embark on
a fascinating guided house tour.
Home to the Earl of Meath, the Brabazon
family has resurrected a Tudor Revival
Mansion masterpiece from post-World War
II neglect when the then Earl resided elsewhere.
Today, visitors can explore this living
working house garden and farm, which
since 1618 has been home to 16 generations
of the Brabazon family. The rooms are
bedecked in original art and furnishings,
most of which were culled in the 1800s during
a 3-year buying trip to mainland Europe
by John Chambre Brabazon, the 10th Earl
of Meath’s eldest son William and daughterin-law
Harriet.
The Orangery is a token to the lady of the
house, Harriet who sold her tiara to create
this glass statement piece inspired by the
Crystal Palace in London. The private residence
is revered as the most successful
Elizabethan-Revival mansion in Ireland.
Ironically 30-minutes south from this House
of Fortune a whole different world unravels
at the Wicklow Gaol. Thrill seekers dare to
enter one of the most haunted places in
Ireland. They say those who were locked
away there in the 18th century are still in
residence. The House of Horror incarcerated
thousands during Ireland’s harshest history
(think the 1798 Revolution, the Great
Famine, and the 1916 Easter Rising). I took
my own personal ghostly encounter and
filed the experience under ‘unexplainable’
counting my lucky stars that this unexpected
discovery was one of many along a trek I
took along Ireland’s Ancient East Coast.
Throughout this storybook setting, the landscape
morphs into a quilt of rural scenes
held together by fields of green. No big billboards
here. It’s just the wide expanse of
blue skies hitting the hillsides to palatial
places like Powerscourt, owned by tennis
ball tycoon, the Slazenger family. Rounded
mounds named Little Sugar Loaf Mountain
(known for its quartzite) for the obscure
shape seem to have been created by giants.
In between the 50 shades of green proud
homeowners care for their immaculate cottages,
cows graze in the pastures, while
ruins of ancient kingdoms litter the countryside
– a testament to Ireland’s deep-rooted
history.
County Meath
Mel Gibson’s blockbuster Braveheart was
filmed in Ireland’s oldest Anglo-Norman
castle. Now visitors amble to the rooftop of
Trim Castle, the town’s biggest tourist attraction
and head inside a mini-museum of
Braveheart clad costumed volunteers who
were extras in the movie to showcase
medieval military wardrobes and weaponry
to kids and day trippers.
Considered the New York of Medieval
Ireland, Trim was a hot bed of industry, commerce
and skilled labourers converging on
the River Boyne with a state-of-the-art mint
and a sewer system. These days, paddlers
float upriver to see more medieval buildings
than anywhere in Ireland. The biggest, the
largest and the oldest like Ireland’s first
unaltered bridge built in 1393 are within a
4-minute stretch.
County Wexford
In Hook Head, the sea opens up. The
rugged peninsula tickles the imagination on
what once was. In the past, the sea has
swallowed hundreds of ships, sending many
a vessel and all its mariners to a watery
grave. William Marshall, Earl of Pembroke
and Strongbow’s son-in-law, who was a
powerful knight of his day, erected this lighthouse
to divert ships from the treacherous
Irish Sea.
Considered the world’s oldest operational
lighthouse, the 800-year-old Hook
Lighthouse is a black and white cylinder that
topples the pancake plain. Visitors partake
in a guided lighthouse tour fueled with hologrammed
characters narrating stories and
ascend the corckscrew 115-steps to the
observatory for birds’ eye views.
Hook Head also lays claim to the country’s
most notorious haunted house. At Loftus
Hall, those who dare to mingle with spirits
embark on a peculiar guided tour in the
dark. The resident ghost, a young woman
named Lady Anne is known to appear when
least expected.
We leave Hook Head behind with its gales
and tales, ready to take another detour
along Ireland’s Ancient East. Who knows
what fairytale or ghostly apparition will
come to life around the bend.
www.ireland.com
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Canadian World Traveller Spring 2018