Bunratty Castle

My college roommate and her Husband came to spend 8 days with us in Ireland.

 Bunratty castle. This is a fun place where I plan to bring my grand kids when they come to visit  in a couple of weeks.  This castle was built around 1425 and was an important stronghold of the O'Briens -- kings and late earls of Thomond during the 16 th and 17th centuries.  It has been restored and houses funishing from the 15th and 16th century. The castle has four towers that are 6 stories high and you enter through a draw bridge.  Just perfect for kids!

 The Kings bedroom . The bed is carved wood and on the wall to the left is his armor waiting for him.

 The room is ensuite.  Heated of course!!

 We are up in one of the four towers and it is very windy.

 Around the castle is the village which is reconstructed back to the time of the Castle life. This is the beginning of the murphy's bed. This bed is in the dining room. Now that dinner is over it is time for bed.

Wendy and Bob Snider outside one of the houses.  They burn peat as their fuel.

In this farmhouse, one end is for bedding of the animals and the other end (in the picture below) is the  the living quarters.

The main street of the village at Bunratty.

Gypsie caravans in the background.

David is making friends with the local livestock.  He backed away from the big dogs down the road though!

A fort for the children and we wonder if this is not the floor plan for the original castle that was destroyed.

I am not sure what this is and will ask next time I visit but there are several of these and no sign of animals around.

I took this for the wall.  Just another design but very interesting.

This is the banquet hall in the castle.  They were setting up for our dinner.

Before dinner we were entertained by these singers and greeted by the noble. Notice the only means of heat in this vast room- one fire in the middle of the room.

Our minstral who never smiled...This shows you the other end of the room.

We started with wine and soup and bread.  Then a course of ribs and now this course of chicken, vegetables, and potatoes.  Followed by a desert of custard.  The trick of this dinner was that you only had your fingers and a sharp knife to eat with!

As we left the castle we were serinaded by a familiar sound of the bag pipe.

So we have broken in our guests on their first night in Ireland. On to many more ventures.

Cheerio :-)