www.powerscourt.com Archives - Jim Murty’s TravelTravelTravel

Once upon a time in fairytale Wicklow

6th December 2022 funtime65

I’d always tell everyone of its magical qualities and it seems the message has got back to the good people at Disney+ so without further ado… once upon a time in fairytale Wicklow.

The Garden county of Ireland where I flourished for 13 years and my children bloomed into adults is the backdrop.

Every Irishman’s home: The oul’ castle in Co. Wicklow

For the musical comedy Disenchanted, starring Amy Adams, the sequel to the box office hit Enchanted.

Bobby Ewing, no less (or his alter ego Patrick Dempsey at least), and Maya Rudolph, James Marsden, Jayma Mays and Idina Menzel all talk up the county.

In a Tourism Ireland short video which is going around the world.

A corner of New York State

Forty fields of green: Greystones in County Wicklow

In Disenchanted, Enniskerry represents ‘Monroeville’, a fictional suburban town in upstate New York.

Monrroeville is then magically transformed into ‘Monrolasia’, a fantasy and magic-filled version of the town.

And what’s even better is that an 1850s period house in Greystones was the location for Robert (Patrick Dempsey) and Giselle’s (Amy Adams) ‘Monroeville’ home.

With timing being everything we must have just missed out then in offering the homestead we lived in.

In our days in the beautiful town of Greystones.

You might have seen Adrian Dunbar extol about in his most recent travelogue.

The Power of Ireland

Filming also took place at the Powerscourt Waterfall and Powerscourt Estate.

And, of course, that is a favourite romantic getaway for the great and the good, and obviously ourselves.

A word from the sponsors

Speaking about Ireland, Patrick, who plays Robert, said: ‘It’s just breathtakingly beautiful.

‘You see the woods and the fields.

‘and the architecture of all of that is very magical. It really lends itself to a fairy-tale life.’

While Maya Rudolph, who plays Malvina, added: ‘I feel like I got in on a little secret of such an incredible place and I’ve just fallen in love.

‘It feels like a fairy-tale.’

And my old pal Niall Gibbons, Chief Executive of Tourism Ireland, naturally was delighted to bring the Hollywood cast to Wicklow.

He said: ‘The fact that ‘Disenchanted’ was filmed here is a fantastic coup for Irish tourism.

‘Following the success of ‘Enchanted’, this highly anticipated film is a great way to bring Ireland.

‘And, in particular Wicklow, to the attention of viewers around the world.

‘We are delighted to share this behind-the-scenes video with our fans and followers on social media, celebrating the film’s connections with Ireland.’

Countries, Ireland

Adrian Dunbar in Greystones

23rd November 2022 funtime65

Jesus, Mary and Joseph and his little donkey… is that Adrian Dunbar in Greystones, my old stomping ground?

Adrian has long been a national treasure in Ireland, and much loved too now in the UK on the back of his award-winning performance as Hastings in cop series Line of Duty.

All of which Tourism Ireland, Fáilte Ireland and Tourism Northern Ireland naturally know and have got behind him as he promotes the island in his latest venture.

Harbour delights: Greystones and Da Boss

Adrian Dunbar: My Ireland is the Fermanagh actor’s new series which goes to air on Channel 5 this evening, 23 November (8pm).

The two-part series will follow Adrian, who introduced the wider world to some choice Irish phrases such as the above, as he returns to his hometown of Enniskillen.

We’ll join the ever-likeable Adrian as he visits places that hold fond memories for him.

And he will also check out some places he has always wanted to visit but has never before found the time.

Garden of Ireland

And I guess that is where the word went up of Adrian Dunbar in Greystones, Co. Wicklow, the Garden of Ireland.

Mind you there have been one or two celebs there over the years, Ronnie Drew out of the Dubliners, Damian Rice and ahem, yours truly.

Of course, we didn’t need any steer that Adrian was visiting the jewel of Wicklow.

As we recognised straight away the train, its destination and the platform.

From almost 14 years of standing on it… and that’s not far off as the DART (the Dublin Rapid Transport) is notorious for its poor efficiency.

But friendly staff, and I got to know the guards there well.

Dart and craft

So much so that they shared their idiosyncratic Irish wisdom with me on my first Christmas works do.

When I turned up at the DART station at 6pm one evening and booked a return ticket to Dublin, 15kms away.

The guard was insistent that I should get a taxi home or stay the night in Dublin as the last train back was 11.30pm.

Back to Adrian and he will kick off by visiting the towering cliffs of Slieve League, Glenveagh National Park in my mum’s own Donegal and Devenish Island in Lough Earne.

While the world will be his, well… he’s off to the Carlingford Oyster Company in County Louth and visit MacNean House & Restaurant in Co. Cavan in the midlands.

And meet celebrity chef Neven Maguire.

Train of thought

In episode two, which will air on 30 November, he will meet artist Jim FitzPatrick in Howth and another well-known chef, Richard Corrigan – who will give Adrian a tour of his Virginia Park Lodge.

Viewers will see Adrian visit prehistoric Newgrange, verdant Powerscourt Estate and the remote Hook Lighthouse.

They’ll also see him taking that trip on the DART in Wicklow… and remember Isambard Kingdom Brunel (and Michael Portillo) were all over the Bray-Greystones tunnel along the Irish Sea.

And he will cycle across the Kilmacthomas Viaduct on the Waterford Greenway.

America, Caribbean, Countries, Europe, Ireland, UK

Flower of England

10th October 202210th October 2022 funtime65

The anticipation was at fever pitch ahead of The One Show announcement… no, not Eurovision but on Britain’s blooming with my Flower of England.

And in this one we have skin in the game with My Green-Fingered One and her North Berwick in Bloom team in the Britain in Bloom contest.

It is NB’s good fortune that they have someone on their team who brings the English country garden with her.

My love grows where my Sadie goes

My English Rose has got her hands dirty wherever I’ve taken her, Aberdeen, Edinburgh, Liverpool, Co. Wicklow.

Where I treated her to a busman’s holiday at one of her favourite places, Powerscourt Hotel.

Tulips from Amsterdam

Flowers everywhere: At the Dylan in Amsterdam

And when we’re away too with tulips from Amsterdam from the Tulip Museum planted for the autumn and ready to spring next year.

We all have our own indulgences on our travels and you’ll know well I like to go where the locals ‘play and pray’.

Italia’s green and pleasant land

While My Green-Fingered One loves to dig out a gardens which meant the Villa Borghese in Rome and Villa d’Este, Tivoli.

Now I’ve oft been somewhere and thought my wee petal might enjoy the charms of a maze.

Such as the one Napoleon used to play in the Villa Pisani near Padova

Flower of Ireland: My mum in our old garden in Greystones, Co. Wicklow

The Parco Fauna Orobica in Bergamo, the lungs for the northern Italian city at the time of Covid.

And Padova is of course itself famed for its grounds, the world’s oldest academical botanical gardens, dating back to 1545.

Where the thing to do is to live it up with a sit down tux meal with full orchestra.

Bloomin’ Barbados

Or more recently in the St Nicholas Abbey grounds in Barbados.

Where another of her passions can be indulged… there’s a steam train line there too.

And on the sea

Of course it’s not just on land that you’ll see great gardens… there’s the Eden project on Celebrity Edge too off Florida.

And Royal Caribbean’s Oasis of the Seas in Barcelona.

Although it’s sometimes best not to show her everything.

For fear that she’ll not let me away on my own again.

Now the judges only agreed with me, and North Berwick won Best Coastal award.

But I could have told them all about my Flower of England.

She’s Britain’s blooming marvel.

Africa, America, Canada, Caribbean, Countries, Cruising, Europe, Ireland

Water waterfalls

24th February 202125th February 2021 funtime65

Don’t go chasing waterfalls. Please stick to the rivers and lakes that you’re used to – TLC

Only I do go chasing waterfalls… or rather they go chasing me.

And probably you too… after all they are a staple of your holiday day tours.

But like rivers and lakes usually once you’ve seen one then you’ve seen them all.

The must-sees are obviously Niagara Falls, Victoria Falls and Angel Falls.

The Big Three

The first of them I have ticked off in Canada on a trip to see family in Toronto.

The second on the list is with my friends from Ethiopian Airlines en route to Namibia.

Victoria tall. www.victoriafallstourism.com

While the third in Venezuela I’m inching closer to having acquainted myself with the Venezuelan Spanish ladies of Tobago.

Not all waterfalls have to have come down from the highest heavens.

Nor do they have to be at a neck-craning height to be blessed by the gods.

Water world

As I discovered in Kythera in Greek Attica.

Whether you’re gazing on nature’s wonders among the world’s great mountain ranges such as the Pyrenees

In the valley of the Rockies. cruising through the fjords.

Or with the sun on your back in the Caribbean waterfalls are one of the Gods’ gifts.

Unless, of course, it’s Powerscourt’s waterfalls in my old back yard of Co. Wicklow in Ireland which you have to pay for.

Powerscourt, its gardens and splendid hotel and grounds and best-value restaurant is one of the country’s jewels.

Spray that again

All of which waterfall waffling brings me to the subject in hand, an invitation from one of the best Travel providers in the business.

American Holidays are flagging up their Canadian market and as well as Niagara Falls, the less well-known Montmorency Waterfalls.

The Montmorency Falls in Quebec are actually 30m higher than its much-vaunted Ontario neighbour.

You can decide for yourself which you prefer on your nine-day tour of Canada’s great Eastern Cities.

Where you’ll spend three nights each in Toronto, Montréal and Quebec.

You’ll fly from Dublin to Toronto and return from Montréal from €1539pp.

MEET YOU BY THE WATERFALLS

Caribbean, Countries, Culture, Europe, Ireland

Out of my tree

5th December 20206th December 2020 funtime65

And watching the Scary One plant her pear trees in the drizzle for National Tree Week has sparked memories of where I’ve been out of my tree around the world.

Let’s hear it for the beardies… on Barbados

Beardy trees

Caribbean: The trees certainly caught the Portuguese mariners” eye when they landed in Barbados..

Not the golden beaches, interestingly (well they have their own) but their bearded Ficus citrifolia.

While we all visit the West Indies for its beaches we miss a lot if we ignore its heartland so you should go safari.

Where Dwayne will tear up the woodland in his Jeep and the bowed bearded trees will flick your face.

Eat one of those famous Tobagonian meals of fish which has just jumped out of the sea and macaroni in Jemma’s Treehouse.

And sleep it off in your own treehouse in Castara Retreats in a hammock naturally.

Tree si

Italy: And my favourite is this much-loved straight up and down tree… it’s very poplar.

My good friend and an Irish Travel Writer of the Year into the bargain, Muriel Bolger, wrote beautifully for me on their appeal, on a trip I sent her on to Northern Italy.

Which I checked out for myself in Bergamo this past Autumn.

I had, of course, familiarised myself with them when I went off-road on my Via Francigena pilgrimage.

Me and the chasing dogs.

Espana fir favor

Spain: And while the summer is when we all descend on Spain’s beaches here’s my ode to Autumn in Espana.

When nature is in a state of undress, and when she is at her most becoming.

The best way to discover a region is by foot and on my Camino in Galicia I trudged the same tracks the Medieval Peregrinos did.

I dare say that the tree growing out of this house was there then too.

The explorer to Tenerife, rather than the sun seeker, will head north, rather than south.

And the rainforest in the Northern Anaga Mountains. All of which you cam enjoy on your CanariaWays.com trip.

The Power of trees

Crane your neck: The Douglas Fir at Powerscourt

Powerscourt, Co. Wicklow, Ireland: And when you live in the Garden County of Wicklow then trees are all around you.

The tallest one in Ireland is on the magnificent Powerscourt Estate, Enniskerry, near Bray, some 60m plus which is it the seventh highest in Europe.

And when you stay in the sumptuous hotel you get a view, and a review, like no other.

And shiver me timbers

Celebrity Edge: And trees are the last thing you’d expect on a cruise ship.

But this is just one of the things which separates the $1bn Celebrity Cruises Edge from the other ships on the seas..

Edge which I boarded two years ago for its inaugural trip from Fort Lauderdale to tbe Bahamas boasts Eden, a forested wonder et land of plants.

But then every on Edge transports you to a different world.

MEET YOU UP A TREE

Deals, Food & Wine, Ireland, UK

Holiday Snaps – Stay home

20th June 202020th June 2020 funtime65

We’ve got skin in this game with Daddy’s Little Girl waiting for the OK to go back to her work at the hotel.

It doesn’t help that we pass by the very same hotel on our daily walk.

It is expected that Scottish hotels will reopen in line with national guidelines on July 15.

And when they do it will be time to reacquaint ourselves with our favourites and treat ourselves with some new ones.

Such as the Dunalastair Hotel in Perthshire https://www.dunalastairhotel.com, a lovely sweeping valley of a county.

And one I usually passed through instead of stopping when I would drive from Aberdeen to Glasgow reporting on football matches.

Except for a boys’ weekend in Dunkeld, writing poetry for our Edinburgh Fringe Show. Now what rhymes with Glenturret?

New offers include Luxury for Less (from €99 per night), to the indulgent Highland Retreat (£499 for two nights). Rooms at Dunalastair Hotel Suites are from £129 per night.

Also see Visit Scotland www.visitscotlsnd.com.

Coming out of quackdown

We’ve been missing them so much during quackdown.

But every duckie’s favourite getaway in Europe, Hastings Hotels in Northern Ireland, have reopened their doors.

You’ll know what Hastings are all about by now Belfast Chilled and their signature look of a rubber duck in your bathroom.

They’ve had Rory Quackilroy, Duck of Thrones… you get the idea.

So they were rightly interested when this little fella came on the market.

Just a thought you could market your own new duckie, Julie…. Quacks Armstrong! See https://hotrading.shop/products/helmet-duck-bicycle-horn-light and https://www.hastingshotels.com/?gclid=EAIaIQobChMI8pP5iqeQ6gIVk4eyCh3oRAlPEAAYASAAEgIydPD_BwE.

And also see www.discovernorthernireland.com

And meanwhile in the south

All our favourite hotels in Ireland are reopening.

We have already flagged up our favourite in our old stomping ground of Co. Wicklow, Powerscourt https://powerscourt.com and Flowerscourt.

And I now want to promote the splendours of Conrad Dublin, a hotel I’ve enjoyed on a function level but yet to laid down by head there.

Apart, of course, from when my head would hit the table through too much vino.

Among the goodies on offer in what they are packaging as Dream Away are the Picnic Package, the Literary Tour and Dublin City by Horsedrawn Carriage.

And seeing you’ve been locked away at home for months then why not treat the whole family to a night in the Conrad Family Room.

The interconnecting family room is €350 for the night for two adults and two children. See www.conraddublin.com.

To the lighthouse

Ciara O’Leary is all smiles at the lighthouse

So fine was the morning except for a streak of wind here and there that the sea and sky looked all one fabric, as if sails were struck high up in the sky, or the clouds had dropped down into the sky – Virginia Woolf

Lighthouses can be by contrast snug or solaces from people.

And Hook Lighthouse in Co. Wexford in the Republic of Ireland on June 29 is reopening its doors with the latter in mind.

Hook Lighthouse, the Lightkeepers Cafe and the outdoor dining option, the Seahorse, will all open seven days per week.

With last access to the grounds at 4pm and dining closes at 5pm.

Pre-book a free pass online at www.hookheritage.ie or take a guided tour by phoning (051) 397 055.

Also see www.failteireland.com and www.discovernorthernireland.com.

Uncategorized

Prehistoric Powerscourt

25th September 201925th September 2019 funtime65

An oul’ dinosaur in Powerscourt… no, not me, but terra dactyls and Tyrannosaurus Rexes.

I’m in Powerscourt Estate in Enniskerry in my own adopted county of Wicklow where it has been hosting our prehistoric predecessors.

The movie men and women have been here to shoot a secret Jurassic World short film.

Hollywood director Colin Trevorrow told Collider that Powerscourt’s grove of redwood trees look exactly like those in Northern California.

*Take cover: A*ndre Holland and Natalie Martinez. Picture: Universal

Powerscourt has long been a favourite for movie-makers since Laurence Olivier turfed up here to film Henry IV there in 1944.

And now it can boast a Jurassic World eight-minute short film, the first Jurassic movie to have been shot in Ireland.

Battle at Big Rock has been shot by the director and co-writer of Jurassic World and its sequel Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom.

Do you know the way to the swimming pool? Picture: Christian De Grandmaison

And so… a teaser

Now this is how the plot goes…

A family takes the oul’ caravan out for a camping trip.

Camping, of course, can have its drawbacks…

Like the weather or someone forgets the groceries, or there’s no wi-fi, and maybe a large herbivore trundles past.

So who’s in it?

Only Selma and Moonlight actor Andre Holland and End of Watch’s Natalie Martinez.

*Tree’s company. Picture: Powerscourt Estate.*

My old friend Sarah Slazenger has had many unexpected requests at Powerscourt in her time.

But she is always equal to any of them, even including this old dinosaur.

Battle at Big Rock is available to watch online through YouTube.

And it has already garnered 3.8million views worldwide.

You want to know more about Powerscourt.

Well, this is how I got on when I went there with The Scary One… https://jimmurtytraveltraveltravel.com/flowerscourt/

Powerscourt is a particular favourite of ours and they have now opened up a new distillery on the grounds… https://jimmurtytraveltraveltravel.com/2019/07/13/whiskey-a-go-go-2/.

This is https://jimmurtytraveltraveltravel.com/2019/07/15/more-whiskey-a-go-go/.

You should also visit http://www.powerscourt.com. And http://www.powerscourthotel.com.

And that picture above:

Well, that’s me at Universal Studios Hollywood where they have the best Jurassic World theme area…. https://jimmurtytraveltraveltravel.com/2019/06/22/my-weekend-with-marilyn/.

Here’s some more fun, fun, fun in California… https://jimmurtytraveltraveltravel.com/2019/07/03/stair-wars-3/ From http://www.universarlstudioshollywood.com

Uncategorized

More whiskey a go-go

15th July 201915th July 2019 funtime65

It was 12noon, the mother-in-law had been here for a full day and a half so nobody could blame me for hitting the whiskey.

Thankfully I’ve got a brand new distillery down the road in one of my favourite spots here in Co. Wicklow, Powercourt Estate.

I’d heard all about what they were planning when I stayed over a year last Spring and am delighted to say that it is a fantastic addition to the hotel, the gardens, the centre… heck, everything,

There’s a tour for €20 which will let you in on the whole distilling process and I dare say that there will be whiskey at the end of it.

There’s also a fantastic and well-priced cafe too and a shop where you can buy the water of life and various whiskey-related products.

And the uisce bertha… well, I tried the Fercullen 14-year-old single malt (€92.95) which Niall told me was smoky. I’d say its not as peaty as Connemara or my own favourites the Islay whiskies and had a slight sweetness but it was certainly what the medical man ordered.

Before I developed my palate and got a few bob in my pocket I was wont to drink a Scotch blend Bell’s which was in every supermarket and off that you’d go into.

So I couldn’t pass up this opportunity to pull an imaginary rope on a very real 18th century outside the old Mill which is now the distillery.

Visit http://www.powerscourtdistillery.,com. And Powerscourt House & Gardens http://www.powerscourt.com. And Powerscourt Hotel. http://www.powerscourthotel.com.

And get out to the rest of the county. http://www.visitwicklow.ie.

And now that I’ve warmed myself up I’m digging out my review from Powerscourt from last year. https://jimmurtytraveltraveltravel.com/flowerscourt/(opens in a new tab) And the gardens https://jimmurtytraveltraveltravel.com/how-the-seasons-pass/.

Now this might be a case of drinking down to the top of the label.

TOAST YOU ON THE ROAD