Our Trip Blog

The Events of Monday, May 16, 2011

                Killarney National Park is one of Ireland’s six national parks. It is also the first “national park” we visited in Europe. Since visiting national parks is one of our trip “themes”, we were eager to see how an Irish National Park compared to all the national parks we visited in the States. We soon learned that, barring an absence of uniformed rangers, there really wasn’t much of a difference.

                Our first stop in Killarney National Park was the Muckross House. Built in 1843, its third owner donated it to the state in 1942. Its biggest “claim to fame” is that Queen Victoria stayed here when she visited Ireland in 1861. Presented as a late 19^th century mansion, the house is decorated as it was at the time of the Queen’s visit. We purchased our tickets for the 10:30 tour and walked around the formal parterre and Walled Garden while we waited.

                Our tour guide, Breeda, spoke with a lilting, thick Irish brogue which made the somewhat dry tour at least easy on the ears. We toured through the great hall, the billiard room (with its three ton solid mahogany table), the dining room, the upstairs bedrooms, the children’s rooms and the servants’ quarters in the basement. It was interesting to compare this “mansion” with the Rhode Island mansions we visited. Several ornate pieces of furniture, including inlaid wood pieces crafted in Killarney, decorated the rooms. There were incredibly ornate wood furniture pieces from Wales and Italy as well. The wallpaper varied from patterned French velvet to Chinese hand-painted silk. The bathroom ware was English Spode. Everywhere there were antlers and Waterford crystal chandeliers.

                It took six years to prepare for the Queen’s two night stay. Dutch weavers wove the dining room curtains just for this event. A special ornate desk commissioned from the Killarney woodworking shop bore the royal seal. The Queen’s bedroom was on the ground floor as she had an extreme fear of fires. They even constructed a special fire escape just for her use. Workman felled the trees between the Queen’s bedroom window and the lake, to create an unobstructed view of Killarney Lake. The Queen brought an entourage of her husband, Prince Albert, her four children, and about 100 servants. Providing accommodations for everyone on the estate was a challenge. About two months before her visit, the Queen sent a note saying any extra trouble or expense on her behalf was unnecessary. The owners of the house at the time of the visit hoped for a title or land as a thank you. However, Prince Albert died shortly after returning to England and the Queen plunged into mourning and forgot all about her visit, Killarney, and Ireland.

                After the tour we visited the weaving shop and the crafts centre. Then we found a nice grassy knoll near our van for lunch. After lunch, one by one, we lay back on the cool green grass, basked in the sunlight and enjoyed a little rest. I awoke to the sound of bellowing cows. It was one o’clock, and the Muckross Traditional Farms were now open for business.

                The Muckross Traditional Farms presents Irish farm life in the 1930s. Electricity did not arrive in this region until 1955, so it was an interesting stroll down memory lane. We visited three separate working farms, one small, one medium and one large. Each was complete with animals, poultry, and traditional farm machinery of the time. We also had the opportunity to visit a Laborer’s cottage, a Carpenter’s workshop, a Harness maker and a Blacksmith’s Forge.

                Our first stop was the small farm. After inspecting the attached outhouse (not a privy, but a barn), we ventured inside. There, an Irish woman, warmly greeted us with an offer of Irish soda bread and butter, both made on the farm. She explained the process of making the butter and the bread and showed us where all the kids slept together on the floor of the main room. The single bedroom was for the parents. Wood and peat fires burned in both rooms and it was fairly smoky.

                No one was “home” at the Labourer’s Cottage, except an ENORMOUS pig and six piglets in the pen outside. The kids couldn’t get over the cute piglets and I couldn’t get over the size of their mother. She must have been six feet long, three feet tall and at least two feet wide. a school group thwarted our stop at the medium size farm. Since they filled the room, we moved on to our next stop, planning to return. At the Large Farm we first visited the outhouses built connected to the house, in a horseshoe around a square. We followed the signs to the small animals and enjoyed a visit with the newest farm members. It’s spring here in Ireland and that means birthing season for the animals. We saw 12 week old Border collie pups, six week old calves, four week old lambs, and a two week old donkey foal. The donkey foal was so fuzzy and fluffy it looked like a stuffed animal. Its coat color was a mixture of browns, gold, grey, and white. It was simply gorgeous. The kids had a great time petting the pups and the calves and taking pictures of the chicks, turkeys and peacocks that were also housed here.

                Next we made our way to the main house, only to find we were shut out again. Behind closed doors; the school group enjoyed a butter making demonstration and a chair making demonstration. The mistress in the kitchen explained the differences in the construction of the three farmhouses and showed us a battery powered radio. Radio broadcasting only happened for about an hour three times a day – morning, noon and evening. So the radio was switched off the rest of the time prolonging the life of the battery. Next, we toured the rest of the house with two bedrooms and two dining rooms as well as the kitchen where the family and the farm laborers ate. Finishing this, we noticed the school group had finally left. We were headed out to see the butter making, chair making and the Irish song and dance demonstration when we noticed the staff heading inside. It seems that now that the school group was gone, the demonstrations were over. Disappointed we asked a few questions of the chair maker and went out to see the Irish Wolf Hounds. These year old Irish Wolf Hounds were huge. When one sat, so Abby could pet him, he came up to her shoulder. 

                Leaving there, we headed back to the medium size farm. The school group was gone, so we had a chance to speak with the mistress of the house and she introduced us to Irish griddle soda bread. This bread is the same recipe as the other, but it is cooked on a flat griddle over the fire. However, first, the mistress cut the round raw loaf into seven pieces. It seems there would be seven children in the house and each would want his/her share of bread. The griddle soda bread is served warm and is very difficult to cut once it’s baked. Cutting it before baking made sure everyone received their fair share. This farmhouse has two bedrooms on either side of the kitchen. The kids’ bedroom had two beds, one for the girls and one for the boys. They slept up to six to a bed, head to foot, for warmth. The parents’ bedroom was sparse, but adequate. The outhouses on this farm were built parallel to the main house and we were able to see some horses, chickens, ducks and geese here.

                The rest of the workshops and forges weren’t manned and we have seen several of these occupations in action at other places we’ve visited, so it wasn’t a great disappointment. Just before we exited, we stumbled on a Woodland Play area with a variety of balance activities utilizing ropes, and logs, and a rope basket swing which we all enjoyed immensely. Soon, however, it was time to return to the car and explore more of Killarney National Park.

                We drove on to Torc Waterfall and parked. A short hike up the trail led us to the base of the falls. While these are nowhere close to some of the falls we have seen on our trip, they were beautiful. The new fern foliage was bright green in the sunshine and the water flowing behind it was picturesque. Lindsey and Abby each doffed a shoe to dip their foot for their “Waters We’ve Waded” blog. While Jim, Ben, and Abby made their way downstream climbing boulders, Lindsey returned to the water to clean her foot and put on her sneaker. However, as she scrambled back up the bank, her foot slipped into the water up to her knee. Now she had truly waded in the waters of Torc River.

                Driving on we encountered narrow, winding roads filled with tour buses that could not contain themselves to their side of the road. The kids joked that, since I was sitting in the passenger seat in our left hand drive car, I should throw up my hands and cover my face whenever an oncoming car with right hand drive approached. This would give the oncoming driver a bit of a fright as they would suspect that I was actually driving. After passing through a narrow and rather low rock tunnel, we soon left the lakeshore and began to climb. We climbed right up to Ladies View. Supposedly, when Queen Victoria visited, her ladies in waiting would sit out here for the view. However, it seemed much too far from Muckross House for that to be feasible, given the travel difficulties of the time.

                After taking pictures of the view we ventured into the ice cream/gift shop. The ice cream was fresh and hand cranked from the dairy of Kerry cows and VERY expensive. So we passed on the ice cream. However, Caitlin had better luck in the gift shop. Ever since being tour guide in Spain, Caitlin has been looking for a shoulder bag with a zipper to carry her “tour guide” paraphernalia while leaving her hands free. Every bag she has found so far was lacking in some respect. She found the perfect hand-woven bag, with a zipper and decorated with Irish rainbows, within her price range. That purchase completed, we headed back down the winding road. Finding ourselves trapped behind a slow moving tour bus, we pulled off and did a bit of exploring around the lakeshore. It was amazing to see the difference in rock formations at the water’s edge compared to the mountainside we had just visited.