Ashford Castle

As we were leaving Cong, a sign for Ashford Castle caught my eye. I didn’t know much about the place, but I recalled seeing some photos of the castle and thought it quite photogenic. I had also read that scenes for “The Quiet Man” had been filmed here. Since boat tours on Lough Corrib stop here to drop off passengers for a roam about the grounds, I figured we could explore at our leisure as well. So, we headed off to the castle.

Turns out the castle, a mix of Medieval and Victorian styles — the former dating back to 1228 and the latter added in the mid 1880s — is now a high end hotel. Only two of the inland-facing towers are apparently original ... all else added when the castle was turned into a hotel. Seeing the castle in person, it looked quite familiar. A quick web search revealed that it had been used for the French court scenes in the TV series, “Reign.”

The guard who greeted us said that we were free to wander around the gardens, but the interior of the buildings were off limits to all but paying guests. No problem. Turns out that the lake-side grounds were also off limits, but we didn’t see the sign until after we’d walked down to take photos. Ooops!

After the hubbub of Cong, the grounds of the castle provided a peaceful haven. With the weather still cooperating, we had ourselves a leisurely stroll as we enjoyed the beautifully landscaped gardens.Read more