This is part 34 of our Ireland Trip, where we walked around Dromoland Castle and we give you a short video tour at the front of the castle. It was another cloudy, grey day with rain in our memorable adventure.
THE CASTLE COMPLEX - In the previous couple of blogs about Dromoland, we told you that part of the castle is used for weddings and other big functions. The castle is built on acres (or hectares) of land that offers a large golf course, archery, falconing, horseback riding, nature trails, fishing and more. We only stayed one night and didn't experience any of those things, but finding chocolates on the pillow at night made up for it.
BEAUTIFUL GARDENS - Outside the front of the castle was a beautiful English garden with styled boxwood shrubs (which Tom likes, but I think they smell like cat pee!).
Side View of Dromoland Castle
BEST ROOM IN THE HOUSE - Anne Marie of Across the Pond Vacations booked us in the most elaborate room on the fifth (top) floor of the highest tower, so we had no "next door" rooms. All of the rooms were below us. OUR SHORT VIDEO TOUR OUTSIDE DROMOLAND CASTLE - We made this 60 second video tour to give you a good feel for what it's like to stand outside the front of the castle and look around. Tom even points to the tallest tower where our room was located. It's quite the elaborate place! (VIDEO BELOW)
This is part 32 of our Ireland trip where we take you to Dromoland Castle and tell you about a guy that looked like a superhero there! Dromoland is a former castle from the 5th century, updated, refurbished and turned into quite an elaborate Bed and Breakfast. It was here that our friend Anne Marie Clarke of Across the Pond Vacations made sure we stayed overnight. Not only did we stay there, but she got us the highest room in the tower, on the fifth floor and the most luxurious suite. It was really over the top!
Castle Entryway/Lobby
Dromoland Castle
WHAT IS DROMOLAND CASTLE? - It's a 5 star place for sure and it's located in a place called Newmarket-on-Fergus in County Clare, Ireland, in southwest Ireland. There's an entirely new section of the castle with banquet halls for weddings. Of course we walked through all the hallways and explored.
Our elaborate room on the 5th floor tower
There's a fine dining restaurant and a cocktail bar, plus a drawing room that offers afternoon tea. Facilities at the luxury spa include an indoor pool, a sauna, a steam room and a whirlpool. There's a golf course and 2 tennis courts, horseback riding, a walking trail, fishing and clay shooting. The grounds are so extensive you can't see them all! For the website, go to: www.dromoland.ie/
CASTLE HISTORY-
There were apparently three houses on the site, and building that
stands today was finished in 1835. The first building constructed was
likely the tower house built in the 15th or early 16th century where we
stayed on the top floor. That building was built by Thomas, the son of
Shane Mac Anerheny. Other
families that lived there later include the O'Briens that we talked
about from Bunratty Castle in a previous blog, and the McInerney family.
The word "Dromoland" means "Hill of Litigation" according to the
historian James Frost.
Hallway in the castle
"NIGHTWING" THE WAITER - One thing we did notice was that all of the
Dick Grayson as "Nightwing"
restaurant servers were men and they were ALL incredibly handsome. Either red-headed with green eyes and powerfully built, or black-haired-blue eyed. That made such a nice dining experience! In fact, being a superhero fan I couldn't help but notice one of the waiters looked exactly like "Nightwing" (Dick Grayson) who is the former Robin to Batman: Handsome, in his 20s, jet black hair, blue eyes, muscular build, and about 5'10". So I asked him if he knew who that was, and he didn't - so I explained that he's Batman's "Robin" all grown up and in a new identity. He was flattered. I learned that he had moved to Ireland from Romania.
I'm a simple guy who enjoys the simple things in life, especially our dogs. I volunteer for dog rescues, enjoy exercising, blogging, politics, helping friends and neighbors, participating in ghost investigations, coffee, weather, superheroes, comic books, mystery novels, traveling, 70s and 80s music, classic country music,writing books on ghosts and spirits, cooking simply and keeping in shape. You'll find tidbits of all of these things on this blog and more. EMAIL me at Rgutro@gmail.com - Rob
The castle is built on acres (or hectares) of land that offers a large golf course, archery, falconing, horseback riding, nature trails, fishing and more. We only stayed one night and didn't experience any of those things, but finding chocolates on the pillow at night made up for it. 
