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UK, Ireland, and Paris 2025
  • Gail Woodward
  • Darcy Mullamphy
  • Gail Woodward
  • Darcy Mullamphy

UK, Ireland, and Paris 2025

This trip marks our retirement and has been in the planning stage for the past six months. D'Arcy has spent many hours planning, and we have selected a range of places to visit and stay across England, Wales, Ireland, Scotland, and in Paris, France. Read more
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  • UK, Ireland, and Paris 2025

    Kylemore Abbey, Connemara, Ireland

    June 6, 2025 in Ireland ⋅ 🌬 14 °C

    Kylemore Abbey is in the County of Galway and set in the woodlands, lakeside, by Pollacapall Lough. The estate was purchased by Benedictine nuns, who needed a base as they were fleeing the dangerous violence of Ypres, Belgium during the First World War.
    For the last 100 years, the property has been a Benedictine monastery and was, until 2010, an international boarding school for girls. The property also has a neo Gothic Church, which was undergoing some restoration, a mausoleum (where the previous owners are buried), and a 6 acre Victorian walked garden.    Read more

  • UK, Ireland, and Paris 2025

    Lough Rynn Castle Hotel, Mohill

    Jun 8–11, 2025 in Ireland ⋅ ☁️ 15 °C

    Lough Rynn Castle Hotel Estate and Garden is close to Mohill, in the County Leitrim. It is our last 3 nights in the Republic of Ireland. The grounds are expansive, and the hotel has a beautiful walled garden overlooking the lough. The drawing room has an enormous fireplace, and the stay was memorable.Read more

  • UK, Ireland, and Paris 2025

    Giant's Causeway Coastline, NI

    June 12, 2025 in Northern Ireland ⋅ ☁️ 16 °C

    The Giant's Causeway are basalt columns that jut upwards out of the sea at this iconic landform. The basalt stone columns were left by volcanic eruptions 60 million years ago. It is located in County Antrim on the north coast of Northern Ireland, about three miles (4.8 km) northeast of the town of Bushmills. We walked the rim and back along the shoreline, enjoying all aspects of the coastline.Read more

  • UK, Ireland, and Paris 2025

    Dunluce Castle, Bushmills, County Antrim

    June 12, 2025 in Northern Ireland ⋅ 🌧 16 °C

    Dunluce Castle is one of the most picturesque and dramatic of Irish Castles, jutting out on the Causeway Coastal Route. It was inhabited by feuding clans, including the McQuillan and MacDonnell clans. With evidence of settlement from the first millennium, the present castle ruins date mainly from the 16th and 17th centuries before coming into State guardianship in 1928. It is quite large in size with a Brew House, Stables, Lodgings, Manor House, Kitchen, Buttery, Towers, Gatehouse and Bridge.Read more

  • UK, Ireland, and Paris 2025

    Belfast day trip, Northern Ireland

    June 13, 2025 in Northern Ireland ⋅ ☁️ 17 °C

    Belfast is Northern Ireland’s capital, with close to 350 000 people living within the city and a total of 1.13 million in the wider city region. Belfast has enjoyed 26 years of peace. However, there are still over 20 miles of peace walls - or peace lines - across Northern Ireland, the majority across Belfast, which surprisingly remain closed at night to this day!
    Some intruding facts...
    * C.S. Lewis and Van Morrison were born in Belfast.
    * Game of Thrones was filmed in 63 locations around Belfast
    * 10 000 bomb attacks over a 30-year period (prior to the 26 years of peace) made up a period referred to as "The Troubles" (1969 to 1998)
    * Belfast was the birthplace of the RMS Titanic, which famously struck an iceberg and sunk in 1912.    Read more

  • UK, Ireland, and Paris 2025

    Crossbasket Castle Hotel & Glasgow

    Jun 14–16, 2025 in Scotland ⋅ 🌧 16 °C

    We arrived in Scotland from Belfast on the car ferry, which docked in Cairnryan, and met up with a friend from school, Susan, who lives in the area at Kilmarnock. Then, we travelled onto our accommodation for a couple of nights. Crossbasket Castle Hotel, Spa and Restaurant is approximately 30 mins from the centre of Glasgow. Our middle day was spent in Glasgow walking around a little and visiting the Kelvin Grove Art and Museum and the Glasgow Necropalis.Read more

  • UK, Ireland, and Paris 2025
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    Lochardil Lodge, Inverness, Scotland

    Jun 16–18, 2025 in Scotland ⋅ ☁️ 20 °C

    Leaving Crossbasket Castle, we drove towards Inverness stopping for coffee nearby and "creamed tea" ( tea with scones and cream) at Fonab Castle along the way. We had two nights at Lochardil Lodge, near the Loch Ness, Inverness. Along the way, and over the next couple of days, we saw our first hairy "coos" (cows) but no Nessy (aka Loch Ness monster). We drove to see the Clava Cairns and the Culloden Battlefield in the vicinity of Inverness as well as driving the rim of Loch Ness.Read more

  • UK, Ireland, and Paris 2025

    Dunnottar Castle ruins, Aberdeenshire

    June 19, 2025 in England ⋅ ⛅ 23 °C

    Dunnottar is a ruined medieval fortress located on a dramatic, rocky headland on the northeast coast of Scotland. Situated about 1.6 miles south of the town of Stonehaven, the castle is perched on a 160-foot rock, surrounded on three sides by the North Sea. It is dramatic and is one of the most well-preserved and impregnable castles in Scotland.Read more

  • UK, Ireland, and Paris 2025

    Leeming House, Penrith Lakes District

    Jun 19–21, 2025 in England ⋅ ☀️ 28 °C

    MacDonald Leeming House is over 200 years old. It is set on the shores of Lake Ullswater in the Lakes District of England. This Georgian mansion is located on 22 acres with direct access to the shores of Ullswater – plus spectacular views. It was a long drive today, driving from Aberdeen, and we appreciated the comfort and views on arrival.Read more

  • UK, Ireland, and Paris 2025
    Grasmere

    Exploring the Lakes District, England.

    June 20, 2025 in England ⋅ ☁️ 28 °C

    For our full day of sight seeing in the Lakes District, we headed to the Neolithic Castlerigg Stone Circle, villages of Ullswater, Grasmere and Hilltop Beatrix Potter House, Sawrey (Cumbria), Kirkstone Pass, several spectacular Lakes and drive along many narrow, winding roads. The weather was warm and sunny 🌞 and celebrations were emerging for the summer solstice at the Stone Circle.Read more

  • UK, Ireland, and Paris 2025

    Rushton Hall, Kettering England

    Jun 21–22, 2025 in England ⋅ ☁️ 28 °C

    We returned the hire car after driving 4685 klm in 28 days (2911 miles) across five countries. Craig and Estelle Rowley kindly met us at the hire car location. We enjoyed a pub lunch together before visiting Darren and Debbie for a cuppa, then they drove together to Rushton Hall. Rushton Hall is in Northamptonshire, England, and was initially an ancestral home from 1438. In the 20th century, the house became a private school, and it has now been converted to a luxury hotel. The estate is about 227 acres (92 ha), of which 30 acres (12 ha) are formal gardens. The River Ise flows just south of the Hall.Read more

  • UK, Ireland, and Paris 2025

    Paris, France 🇫🇷

    Jun 22–27, 2025 in France ⋅ ☁️ 27 °C

    Over our time in Paris, we stayed at the Hotel Belfast, a few minutes walk from the Arc de Triomphe and the champs-élysées. Travelling a bit further afield, we spent time at Notre Dame, the Louvre, the Eiffel Tower, various restaurants including Bouillon Julien (Edith Piaf's favourite) and time with D'Arcy's brother Matt, Bowie and friends who were coincidentally in Paris on their way to Dublin. We saw the sights from the Big Bus Hop on Hop off tour, shopped a little, walking a bit and ubered our way around town.Read more

  • UK, Ireland, and Paris 2025
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    Windows 🪟 and Doors 🚪

    June 27, 2025 in England ⋅ ☁️ 27 °C

    During the trip, I found myself drawn to the light through and beyond window and door frames. Here are some of the spaces.

  • UK, Ireland, and Paris 2025

    Farewell from London England

    Jun 27–29, 2025 in England ⋅ ☁️ 27 °C

    A couple of days in London to regroup before we fly home via Perth Australia. We stayed in the suburb of Pimlico, within walking distance of Westminster Catholic Cathedral and Buckingham Palace. The area has pubs, restaurants and cafes closeby. Our hotel was called The Belgrave, on Belgrave Rd.
    What an amazing trip it has been in retrospect. We stayed at amazing places, thanks to D'Arcy's many months of research, saw incredible sights, drove our way around five countries in a month, and experienced the patience and kindness of people in England, Wales, Scotland, Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, and Paris, France....so many lasting memories.    Read more

  • UK, Ireland, and Paris 2025

    The People You Meet 🥰

    June 28, 2025 in England ⋅ ☀️ 29 °C

    Of course, although you visit many different places and get to experience a wide range of things, it's always the people who share a little bit of themselves with you, who stay in your heart the longest. Thank you to all the generous people we met up with. 🙏Read more

    Trip end
    July 1, 2025
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