Despite being avid travellers boarding a plane many times every year to explore a new location we decided due to Covid that 2020 is the year for staycation! As we live in the West of Ireland we choose to begin our staycation Eastside in the garden of Ireland beautiful “Wicklow” to be precise!
With no worries about the amount of luggage we brought, we packed everything bar the kitchen sink & set off on our 3 hour drive, arriving in the gourmet village of Greystones for lunch in a secret garden on main street! A short hop from Greystones we were checking into our home away from home for the next few days the Druids Glen Hotel. On arrival at the hotel it would appear everything was very normal, the porter greeted us, loaded our luggage onto his trolley but on walking through the doors it suddenly hit you things are not quite normal sanitizing stations, perspex screens and social distancing queues! See 1 in Useful Links
Our first adventure was the fabulous walk around the resort and finished up by hitting a few balls at the driving range before dinner in the Garden Room...
Exploring the Garden of Ireland
After a gourmet breakfast we were ready to take on Wicklow first stop Mount Usher, Ireland’s greatest garden! A must visit for any keen gardener or anyone who loves flowers as I do and trees as Doug does & or just nature at its best! The gardens are now being leased by Avoca Handweavers so as to be expected at end of the garden trail there is an Avoca cafe and shops for some retail therapy after a healthy walk ! See 2 in Useful Links
We then stepped into the past with a tour of Wicklow’s Historic Gaol where we got a vivid picture of daily life in a Victorian prison and boarded the convict ship HMS Hercules for a rough voyage to the New World. See 3 in Useful Links
We headed to the the family-run, independent cafe “The Coffee Shop” in the town centre where we had a top quality lunch created from local ingredients. See 4 in Useful Links.
The sun finally put in an appearance on our arrival at the breathtaking Glendalough, the valley of the two lakes.Despite it being late afternoon we just about found a parking space in the village and began our trail to the top. There is also a car park at the Upper Lake which you can use to cut out the steep walk but for us part of the experience was the trek up to the upper lake & beyond to the waterfall. Glendalough is a remarkable place that will still your mind, inspire your heart and fill your soul. See 5 under Useful Links.
On return to the hotel we headed for our pre booked swim in the hotel leisure centre. While Douglas would have loved a game of golf on Druids Glen Course with so much to see in Wicklow time didn’t permit it !!
Delightful Days in Dublin City
Despite having lived in Dublin for many years there was so much I had never explored thus our staycation was just the time to make up for lost time by visiting some of Dublin’s fair city finest attractions!
We decided to stay in one of my favourite Dublin suburbs of Ballsbridge where we had a choice of a number of fine hotels, being familiar with the luxury Intercontinental hotel right back to its Four Seasons days we decided on it . See 6,7 under useful links.
Continuing our Garden theme we visited the National Botanical Garden, a green oasis of 17,000 plant species and while there you can also pop in next door to Ireland’s most famous cemetery Glasnvein although the museum is currently closed still lots to see. Next stop one of Dublin’s oldest buildings Christchurch Cathedral finishing our cultural day at Dublin Castle the former seat of British power for 700 years! We decided to dine close to our hotel in one of Dublin’s most famous restaurants “Rolys Bistro”, pre booking a must, lots of other options available including Indian, French, seafood and Italian hostileries. See links below.
Our cultural exploits on day two included the National Gallery with lunch in the nearby garden terrace at the Merrion hotel before a visit to the fantastic Jameson Distillery. While we had hoped to fit in a visit to the fantastic Dublin Zoo sadly time wasn’t on our side. But next day did see use take our niece & nephews on a fun trip to Tayto Park, Ireland’s only theme park, the closest we get to Disney!
We really enjoyed our staycation which reminded us why all of my clients from the USA & beyond are so taken with Ireland and all it has to offer rain or sun!
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Useful Links
1.https://www.druidsglenresort.com/index.html
2.http://www.mountushergardens.ie/
3.https://www.wicklowshistoricgaol.com/
4.http://thecoffeeshopwicklow.com/
6. https://www.intercontinentaldublin.ie/
7.https://www.schoolhousehotel.com/
8.https://rolysbistro.ie/cafe/about/
9.https://www.facebook.com/TheFrenchParadoxDublin/
10.https://www.jewelinthecrown.ie/jewel-in-the-crown-ballsbridge.html
13.https://www.merrionhotel.com/dine/the-garden-terrace/
15.https://www.nationalgallery.ie/visit-us
