Malahide Castle _June 4

Monday, June 4

Today is Ireland's Bank Holiday. It's a lovely, sunny day so everyone is out enjoying their holiday.

I get to go to a REAL castle today! This was one of my few “must do” things for the trip. 
We took a short drive north to Malahide Castle.

We got a great tour guide! He was an older man, with a great sense of humor and knack for drawing tour guests into the scene he was setting in any given room.

It was owned by the Talbot family for almost over 800 years. It's one of the oldest castles in Ireland. It remained in the family until Rose Talbot inherited it from her brother, Milo, and, unable to afford the inheritance tax, sold it to the Irish State and moved to Tasmania.

The family motto is Forte-et-Fidele (Brave and Faithful) and their crest contains a lion and a hound. The lion motif is seen throughout the house, including in the carvings on this table, which our guide told us is the most priceless item in the castle. It is one of the few remaining examples of this type of furniture style (the name of which I don't remember).

Drawing Room

Detail of Molding in Drawing Room Ceiling

I don't recall what this room (above) was for, but the floor design is beautiful. The entire home is full of beautiful wood-furniture, flooring, paneling.

Children's Room

Toys in the Children's Room

A Child's Travel Case

 We were allowed to see three of the bedrooms on the second floor.

Rose Talbot's Room

 The tassel in the center of the canopy over the bed is a pull to unlock the door to the right of the bed so that the Lady of the house didn't have to get out of bed to open the door when the maid brought up her breakfast tray in the morning.

This vessel is lined with lead and used as a wine cooler

This was the last room of the tour-The Great Hall. There is a very long table in this room and a balcony on the front side of the home. There is a small door and a small room under the balcony that belonged to a dwarf who worked in the house entertaining the Talbot's guests. Unfortunately, he hung himself and is said to haunt the room. I was actually feeling quite sick at this point in the tour-roasting hot and freezing cold at the same time and wondering when the tour would be finished so I could go outside.  I was checking out the library, which is a small room off to the left. When I started paying attention again to what the tour guide was saying he was talking about people becoming sick in the house while on the tour. The tour guides communicate with one another with earpieces and mircrophones so they can let each other know when a room is clear for the next group to enter. He said that any time he heard of a tour guest being sick in the castle he knew exactly where they would be. He pointed at me and the man next to me and said "you two might want to move about 5 feet in either direction". Once I did, I stopped feeling sick. Weird!

There are two wooden vessels on either side of the fireplace. When I asked about them I was told they were used as wine coolers.

This library was off of the Grand Hall. We weren't allowed to go into it. The wallpaper is made with real gold and, according to the tour guide, is quite spectacular when they sun is shining in the room. The table has amazing marquetry top!

The grounds were amazing—so much space-260 acres!

 There is also a cemetery and the ruins of an old church on the grounds.

 There are a lot of exotic plants, lovely wandering walkways, water features and several green houses.

One of the greenhouses has a butterfly collection.

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And a collection of pitcher plants.

 My favorite garden was the Walled Garden. Unfortunately, the video I took is too big to upload here. That garden is more "wild" than the rest of the manicured gardens on the property.

It was a lovely, ornate home but not anywhere near as gaudy as Hearst Castle in California.