Day Eighty One: Staying at the Ballynahinch Castle

Sunday, August 19, 2007 Despite yesterday’s chaos, today had the promise of being very exciting even if the illustrious Leprechauns managed to do their dirty work. It was moving day again, but would probably be my last night staying at a B&B, depending on how things transpired in the next few days. For tonight, I was to be residing in the Ballynahinch Castle, which was located in the Connemara just east of Clifdon in County Galway.

Once breakfast was over, I finished the normal routine and had my stuff packed and loaded in the car by 10am. On my way to settle with Mrs. Murphy, I stopped to have a lovely chat with Mary, who was one of the women that worked at the B&B. Soon Mary went to tell Mrs. Murphy I was ready to close my bill, and we exchanged farewells.

When my farmhouse host appeared, I gave her one of the special golden coins along with the vouchers, telling her I appreciated the wonderful hospitality. Understanding the magnitude of work involved with running her farmhouse B&B, which had hosted as many as a dozen or more guests a night during my stay, I dismissed myself to make my way to County Galway, telling her I’d be back for another visit in the future.

Since it was Sunday, I felt traffic would be much better on the N21 north, and took that route instead of the N69, which took a wide loop to the west of the N21. The N69 had been my route of return last night in order to avoid the mess I encountered on my way up to Shannon yesterday. After bypassing Limerick, I continued on the N18 to Galway then followed the N59 out to the Connemara. The castle was located outside of Roundstone and was sign posted from the N59.

On my way out, I saw a rare sight on the roadways; it was the Gardai (pronounced Gar-dee). Passing them at a little over 100kph, I noticed that they had a device mounted on a large tripod and it was pointed at oncoming traffic. They did not seem to be in the act of stopping vehicles, and appeared to be monitoring only. However, having been told about the speed cameras in Ireland, and how it was the practice to photograph speeders and mail them a ticket, it appeared that this was what they were doing. Hopefully I don’t get any mail from the ever elusive Gardai.

Once in the Connemara, the roadway became narrow and extremely rough, with many twists and bends, which hadn’t changed since the first time I came out here to see the Dan O’Hara heritage center. Having to slow down for the occasional sheep, it seemed that the great time I made from Castlemaine to Galway, which was about 200 kilometers in two and a half hours, was reduced greatly.

Once off the N59, the wood lined road brought me to a large steel gate with a white gate house adjacent the entrance. It seemed I had found the estate and it seemed to be quite the establishment. I was feeling rich already!

Pulling up to the main house, I noticed that it was not the type of castle I had been use to seeing, and it was definitely not a fortified castle. It looked more like a manor house, with its crisp lines and ornate décor. There were gardens throughout the property and the castle sat alongside a flowing river. There were gravel walks scattered about and trees covered the area like a forest, with both deciduous and evergreens abound. Benches and stone walls surrounded the grounds and it smelled and sounded like nature, and not the livestock kind of nature I had been experiencing for the last three months.

Finding a parking space to the left of the front entrance, I would have exited the car onto a red carpet had there been one laid out, and I found myself in the grand lobby ready to check in.

Upon receiving my key, which actually was given to a porter named Peter (Seriously, no joke), I was escorted to my car and assisted with taking my luggage up to the room. Climbing the grand staircase to the next level, we reached the door to my chamber, which was called the Maharajah Room.

As Peter opened the door, it swung open to reveal the biggest hotel-styled room I had ever seen. It was more like a suite, with a four post bed, a sitting area with sofa and chairs by the large window, two desks, a cedar chest, and an upholstered bench near the fire place. There was an adjoining room which had a vanity and wardrobe closet with bathrobes and slippers waiting inside. The bathroom had a shower & tub with two vanity sinks. There was a table by the toilet with various toiletries and other useful items a traveler may have forgotten while packing.

The suite was named the Maharajah, in honor of one of the castle’s former owners and a former Maharajah, who was affectionately nicknamed Ranji, as his proper name was quite lengthy. As such there were some paintings on the walls of Indian subjects, and one of himself in traditional Indian dress. It seemed that Elma had arranged for one of the premier rooms in the castle. What a deal!

Once my stuff was in the room, Peter went to fetch some hot tea for me as I took in the ambiance of the décor. Having only seen something like this on television, I felt like a million bucks as I toured the suite. Grabbing my camera, I took some photographs just to remind myself later that I had actually been there.

Once Peter brought me my tea, he asked if there was anything else I needed. After releasing him to go about his business, he reminded me that should I need anything, it could be obtained by ringing the reception desk and someone would see to it straight away. It was clear to me that this was no B&B, and better than any hotel in which I had stayed in the past.

Deciding to leave my room to get some photographs of some of the other chambers in the castle and some outdoor scenes as well, I started with some shots of the indoors and found a large carpet with a pattern of the U.S. Presidential seal hanging on the wall in the staircase area. It had been presented to President Ford during his visit to the Connemara, when he stayed at the Ballynahinch Castle.

At the base of the staircase was a rack with some heavy duty fishing poles stacked in it. With the river just out back, it seemed a guest could try and catch his or her own dinner. With the cost of the meal at the castle, that would not have been a bad idea.

Walking into the dining room, I saw some employees getting the chamber ready for the evening meal. All the staff wore black slacks and skirts with white shirts having a tie about the neck. Everything was looking first class and ready to serve.

Along the waterfront besides the castle, were some gardens with paths running through them. Taking a stroll through the sanctuary, I pondered a peaceful moment sitting on a bench in the garden along side the river to take in the serenity of the sound from flowing water and the cool breeze blowing through the trees.

After spending some time roaming the estate and capturing images with my camera, I decided to head back inside to admire my room some more before grabbing the laptop to get some online-work done. Having not uploaded my entry from yesterday, I was excited about getting connected to the castle’s wireless router. It was located in the sunroom adjacent the large sitting room, where which I could sit in solitude to work peacefully while looking out at the river and trees. People would kill for an office with such a view, and I took every opportunity to enjoy the million dollar experience.

While chatting with some folks from Arizona, I uploaded my entry from yesterday in mere moments, enjoying the speed of the wireless router. After checking my email, I began to jot down some thoughts for the current day’s entry. As I was working, staff members would frequently pop in to see if there was anything I needed. It seemed like a competition among them to be the one to get the tasking.

Soon it was time for dinner, and I packed up the laptop to return to my spacious chamber. I could not get over how big the room was, and thought that the bathroom alone had been larger than my B&B room in Listowel. It was too much fun!

Not having a suit and tie, I decided that they would have to accept my garb of a polo shirt and jeans, as I had not prepared for such an elegant occasion when packing for my trip to Ireland. At €55 per person, plus a 10% gratuity added in, I figured that they wouldn’t mind my casual dress.

Entering the dining room, called the Ovemore Restaurant, I was met by a staff member and escorted to my table by the window overlooking the river. She pulled out the chair for me and I took a seat, after which she removed the linen napkin from my place at the table and spread it neatly over my lap. Something told me I was not at Denny’s.

As I perused the menu, she departed to fetch some water and a bread basket. Having been a restaurant manger many years ago, I had some knowledge of fine-dining protocol and prepared myself to fit right into the scheme of things. I couldn’t help overhearing those around me who did not understand how to order from the menu, and were confused by having three knives and forks at their place setting. Flipping a utensil over I noted it was Newbridge Silver, and that it was much heavier than the standard stainless steel fork you’d find on your typical dining room table.

Soon I was surrounded by a couple of servers who removed the excess place settings, lit the candle at my table, and poured water in my long stemmed glass. Shortly after that, a server carrying a large basket of various types of breads came over to ask my selection and placed them on the small plate to my left.

Before I could butter my bread, another server came over to take my order. Having made my selections for the four-course meal, she disappeared to get the process going. As I sat waiting for the first course, I gazed out onto the river as it flowed passed the castle. I could see other guests walking the paths through the gardens as a light rain sprayed the gardens and trees. The view reminded me of home, with the many evergreens blanketing the hillside completely around the estate.

Once the first course came, I felt liked someone was watching me, waiting for any indication that I needed some attention. As soon as I finished my lamb salad with ginger & lemon sauce and slid the plate to the side, a server came out of nowhere and scooped the plate up, disappearing just as fast.

Within a moment the next course came, and it continued in that fashion until the final main course was completed. Before I could even dab my mustache with the cloth napkin, a server brought me a desert menu to seal the deal. After ordering a decadent “Assiette of Chocolate”, I felt like the dining experience transpired like a well rehearsed dance.

Retiring to my room after dinner, I sat down to begin working on my daily entry. When checking in I was told that there were no wireless nodes in the castle to allow guests to pick up the router from their rooms, and that because of the stone walls, laptops could not detect the wireless router from a distance either. When I noticed that my room was directly over the sunroom, it occurred to me that it should be possible to detect the router as the floors were made of wood and not stone.

Booting up my laptop, I was happy to see that it was able to find the router. Sitting on the sofa by the large window overlooking the gardens, I relaxed in the expansiveness of my chamber and enjoyed the convenience of working in my room.

After 80 days of staying at B&Bs, it was a delightful change to the routine, and made me think that if there was money in my pocket, it was better spent being comfortable. How often do you get to stay in a multimillion dollar castle and live like a king for a night? Yep! This was the only way to go!

To see more photographs related to this post go to the Photo gallery and click on the link for “Ballynahinch Castle.”