Kilruddery House belongs to the 16th Earl of Meath. It has been in the family since the 17th century. The family can trace their roots all the way back to a man who served under William the Conqueror in 1066. The estate includes 800 acres, and the owners have maintained the original gardens, constructed by Bonet, a student of Le Notre, who designed the gardens at Versailles. The house itself was started in 1618, but most of what we see today was done in the 1820’s. The earl and his family welcome visitors, although the tour of the house is very limited since they actually live in it. There is no “do not touch” rule here, and the kids were even told they could climb the trees if they wanted to.
We started with a walk through the kitchen garden and apple orchard, where they keep a wide variety of chickens.
Lots of flowers along the way, plus a large vegetable garden (just started for the season), a greenhouse, and a sandpit play area for the kids.
Then we walked through the woods to a small clearing that housed a fairy play area for the kids.
So much fun! Even the grownups could fit!
Following the map, we continued around the square path to the infinity pools, and this view of the back of the palace. We followed the path toward the house and then right, to the far part of the grounds.On the way to “The Rock,” we passed another clearing with a metal sculpture that reminded us of Cinderella’s carriage.A few minutes of rest……and enjoying the breeze.We continued on into the woods to find “The Rock” on the map. We passed so many beautiful old trees along the way, plus the biggest rhododendrons I’ve ever seen.We also passed these beautiful flowers that smelled like Easter Lillies. The breeze was blowing past them and we could smell them all the way up the path. Heavenly!
And we came out of the woods and found “The Rock.” Of course we climbed it! Look at the view of the palace from here!
Outside the Tea Room. Why don’t we have tea rooms in the US? We should!This part of the house is called the “Orangery” and Maggie said it was beautiful inside, like a museum, with a marble floor and statues.This is part of the private residence, so the path was closed off by a small gate, but I just loved the climbing wisteria.Next we went around the far side of the house to meet the tour guide. Sean, Maggie and Colleen toured the house, while Kelly, Bobby, Nora and I went to the Farmer’s Market. This is just next to the large gate/driveway that the residents use.Farmer’s Market, here we come! We walked the long way around to the stables, where the Farmer’s Market was housed, so that we could see the pigs. Not very exciting, since they were sleeping, and quite smelly.They hold the Farmer’s Market every Saturday from Easter weekend until October. Since this was only the second day of their season, it was small and not at all crowded. We got fresh eggs from the chickens we had seen earlier, and crepes from the lady in the silver truck behind the kids. Turns out, she used to live in Atlantic City, NJ! Met with the older kids back at the car, got the report on the house tour (beautiful, but limited) and headed home. We thoroughly enjoyed our day at Killruddery House!
We're a homeschooling family of eight - five girls and three boys. Our children are ages 20, 19, 17, 15, 12, 10, 7, and 5. We will be living in Ireland for the next six months, and then going to Tennessee! This blog is a documentation of our travels. Enjoy!! :)
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