Kenmare

Our love affair with Ireland continues at Kenmare. We have come here mainly because some of my early family come from this part of the world and we are going to do our best to uncover some early family history. Brother Robin visited here a few years ago and found out some fascinating family details, including our Indian connections, which we had no idea of. We will see what else we can add to the picture

We have 8 days here. The first three we spent at the gracious Lansdowne Arms hotel in the centre of town.

The Lansdowne Arms 

 Main Street at 10.00pm at night. There is a real buzz in the air. Lots of pubs and each one has live music every night!

Had tea at the 'Cupan Tae' shop. How could I resist!

History everywhere. Andrew is crawling out of a tiny stone house built only from stones, referred to as "beehives". These places were built from about 2000BC!!!!!!!! 

We have visited Ardtully one of the old ancestral homes. Unfortunately it is now in ruins as it was one of the great houses burnt in the 'Troubles' of  1920-23. It still sits amid wide open fields facing the river Roughty. Andrew and I are not ones to see a great picnic spot wasted, so we spent a pleasant day swimming in the river and feasting on local bread, cheese and French wine. What a day!

We have now moved from the Lansdowne Arms to a B and B 'An Bruachan', just out of town. The owner is a wonderfully accommodating woman called Julia O'Connor and she has gone out of her way to help us in our family history search. Today she arranged for us to met with a local man who was born in "Riverside", one of the houses family lived in. He was a gold mine of information and so willing to share. He took us to visit three of the family homes including a tour of Ardtully and explained things we had no idea about.

Ardtully House in its prime!

Not all our time has been spent tracking down family. We did a couple of wonderful walks and marvelled at the beautify of the countryside. They don't call this place the Emerald Isle for nothing!

Julia has put us in touch with yet another local who was able to gain us access to another family house Dunkerron House. Pity those pics are on the camera and not quite as easy to put on the blog.

It is time to leave Ireland. Both Andrew and I have a sneaking suspicion that we will be back. There is so much family history's here, the people have been so warm and friendly and we feel very comfortable here. Thanks Kenmare for such a wonderful time.

 

Off to England now to  catch up with our wonderful friend Lynette, English exchange teacher from Kawerai days, 1987! Will be fun.