Airlie Gardens

Airlie Gardens are a historic non-profit garden located in Wilmington, North Carolina. They have historic buildings, cemeteries, walking trails, wildlife, formal gardens, a 468 year old Oak Tree and butterfly gardens.

I love nature and being surrounded by it. After leaving historic downtown Wilmington, my grandmother suggested that this should be our next destination. And so we took off, got lost on the way, but made it to the gates of Airlie Gardens. We paid for our admission and headed in. I was surprised by how vast the gardens really were. We walked through most of it and it was absolutely beautiful.

 This is a relaxing destination for anyone in the Wilmington area. I try to incorporate some sort of nature and or hiking into my trips. I love how different destinations are from one another and being in nature helps to relax me. I was amazed at all the perfect photography opportunities there were for me. This would be a perfect place for a photographer interested in landscape photography.

 

           This was my first time seeing purple tulips! Which happen to be my favorite flowers!

We visited the bottle chapel that is onsite. It is a structure that was built with cement and bottles (wine, beer, syrup bottles, ect). This was a very peaceful and soothing part of the gardens. I love how they created designs, such as, the butterfly out of the bottles.

We were lucky enough to see some wildlife while we were touring the gardens. This was my first time seeing swans in their natural habitat. What beautiful creatures! The male swam around the nest the female was on, but never ventured far from her.

I would undoubtedly recommend anyone in the area to stop and tour these gardens. The scenery is absolutely stunning. It is recommended that it will take an hour to an hour and a half to tour the complete area. Adult and children tickets are available online or at the gardens. Airlie Gardens offer discounted tickets to military personnel that can only be purchased at the gardens. They are open Monday- Sunday 9am-5pm (last tickets will be sold at 4:30pm). Airlie Gardens host lots of events throughout the year. Perhaps you will have the added bonus of a concert while in the area!

The following link will take you to their website: http://airliegardens.org/

Do you like to incorporate nature into your trips? If so what type of nature?

Bunratty Castle

The first Bunratty Castle was constructed in 1250 and consisted of a earthen mound with a wooden tower. Throughout it's history Bunratty changed hands, was destroyed, rebuilt and destroyed again. In 1425 the current castle was built by the MacNamara clan and was surrounded by a village of over 1,000 habitants. The castle fell into disrepair until the Viscount Lord Gort purchased the land and building in 1954. He then began extensive renovation on the castle and it opened to the public in 1962. Bunratty has a fascinating history if you would like to learn more.

We visited Bunratty the same day we visited Knappogue Castle. They are only a 20 minute drive from one another. This castle and it's medieval banquet came highly recommended by everyone we spoke to. There is free parking for this castle and they had the biggest parking lot of all the castles we visited on our trip. We arrived later in the afternoon, and were not able to get a reservation to the medieval banquet for that night; so we prebooked a reservation for the following night. We purchased our tickets and followed the pathway to the castle. We had limited time before closing and the castle was a higher priority than the folk park.

Bunratty Castle was definitely the biggest castle we saw and the most functioning castle we saw. A lot of the castles we saw were in disrepair, but because of the renovation done on the castle it was like walking through time. Every room was restored to look as it would have in 1425.

Bunratty was a very imposing castle and cold! I had always read about how drafty and cold castles were, but its completely different to experience it in person. It's a self guided tour through the castle. Guests can stay as long or as little in each room as they would like.

Ready for Battle

The great room was cavernous. It was easy to imagine the laird of the clan listening to his subjects complaints in this room. On the upper level of the castle there is a peephole in the wall looking down in the great room. How many people have stood there ease dropping on conversations in history past? Some rooms did have railings preventing the furniture and tapestries from being ruin. They also ask that you refrain from using flash photography in parts of the castle. The flash will deteriorate the tapestries.

No further entrance

Nook in the room above the Great Hall

Visitors are able to visit the dungeon and battlements at the very top of the castle. The dungeon wasn't something to get too excited about, but they are dungeons. Visitors are able to take the stairs down into a little hole, turn around and walk back up. I can tell you that it made the day of every child we saw.

I liked that we were able to visit the battlements. Most castles have those closed off to visitors. The views were amazing!

Warning: be careful when coming back down. The stairways were extremely crowded with people trying to come up, so it created a bit of a jam. This is a castle that requires you to be mobile. There are lots and lots of stairs. If mobility is a problem you would only be able to access the Great Hall. Overall, I'm so glad that we stopped and visited this castle. It was beautifully restored and it was incredibly easy to imagine someone living in the castle during 1425. The ticket price includes Bunratty Castle and Bunratty Folk Park (look for the review in the next post). Please leave any comments or questions below.

Ticket Prices:

Adult: 10 euros
Child 6-16 years: 8 euros
Child 0-6: FREE!!
Seniors: 9.45 euros
Here is the link to purchase tickets for Bunratty Castle and Folk Park:
http://www.shannonheritage.com/BunrattyCastleAndFolkPark/

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Knappogue Castle

Knappogue Castle is a 15th century tucked away in County Clare. The castle was built in 1467 by the Macnamara Clan, who also built Bunratty Castle. The castle was confiscated in 1659 by Cromwell, and returned in 1670 when the monarchy was restored to power. In the early 20th century Knappogue was used as headquarter for the Free State Army in Ireland's fight for freedom. This castle has gone through so much history, and I love the stories behind the history. We happened upon this charming castle as its tucked out of the way.

Road to Knappogue Castle

Your first glance of the castle is following the curved driveway until you are along side the front of the castle. It's an excellent view of the castle. You continue driving around to the side of the castle where there is a free parking lot.

First glance of Knappogue Castle

The entrance is at the front of the castle, where you enter a gift shop. You can browse to your pleasure and pay the entrance fee. Again, student id's will give you a discount! Exiting the side door of the gift shop leads you to inner bailey of the castle. It's so easy to imagine a group of riders cantering through the bailey door and bringing their horses to a halt.

Door to inner bailey

Inner Bailey

Once you cross the bailey and go up the stairs you will enter the main floor of the castle. You are able to access most of the castle, however there are locks barring you from certain areas. One thing I loved about this castle is they have snippets of the history of Knappogue and time around the castle. I thought this was very interesting and added insight to the time period.

Snippets of history

There are also beautiful formal gardens on the castle grounds. By the time we had finished touring the castle it was pouring out. Unfortunately, we did not visit the gardens on the account of the rain. Overall I think this castle is worth the visit. It was lovingly restored in the 20's and has been taken care. This is another castle run by the Shannon Heritage and they do a wonderful job preserving these pieces of history. For anyone interested you are able to rent a room at this castle, it's just going to significantly empty your pockets. The going nightly rate is a whopping 900 EUR a night! Knappogue also offers a medieval banquet at night.

                        Entrance Prices:
Adult 6 EUR
Child 2.50 EUR
Senior 3.50 EUR

You can buy tickets at Knappogue or online at https://www.shannonheritage.com/BookNow/BookTickets.aspx?eid=0100

Aillwee Caves

Aillwee Caves are karst caves located underground. They are located in County Clare, Ireland. This is area is commonly referred to as the Burren. The region itself is a wild, beautiful, dramatic scenery. I loved driving through it. Ireland is a abundant in breathtaking scenery. I'm discovering that I favor wild, dramatic beauty. When you pull up you are greeted by a guard. She explained everything that was offered at Aillwee Caves and that is when you purchase your ticket.

 There is plenty besides the caves to do here. They have a lord of prey center, the hawk walk (I don't think this was offered while we were there, but it looks pretty cool), the wolf den (survival skills) and a farm shop. We only paid for the cave, but we stopped at the farm shop on our way up the hill. They have homemade goods for sell, drinks, cheese and fudge. They offered us free samples of the cheese and fudge. The cheese was so good that we bought some to take with us. I still talk about how good that cheese was and how I wish I could have some right now! It was delicious!
Once you make it to the top of the hill, there is parking available and you enter Aillwee Caves. Outside of the entrance you have a prime photography spot of the burren. There is a panoramic view of the burren. The town and coast look like tiny little dots! Inside is where you wait for your cave time. There is a gift shop to browse and a cozy tearoom.

 

The tour is 30 minutes and it's all walking. The cave floor and metal bridges are damp and wet, so plan your footwear accordingly. For the majority of our trip I wore my Merrells and my friend wore her converse with no problem. This was not physically active, especially the other cave we toured. I saw families with very young children in the tour groups before and after us.
At one point inside the cave they do turn the lights off. It was pitch black and you could see nothing. I have never been in darkness like that before. I imagine that is what a black hole would look like. I stuck my hand in front of my face and I still could not see it . . . not event the outline. I don't know how the people who discovered it kept digging in such darkness.

It was a good tour filled with local history. They explain how the cave was discovered. There are even bones inside the cave of a 2,000 year old brown bear that is now extinct. It used to roam that area, but no longer. I would recommend this cave to visitors. We did visit another cave and in comparision Aillwee Caves seemed more commercialized and touristy, but I'm still glad I visited. Don't forget your cheese on the way out!

If you purchase tickets online it will save you money! Check it out . . . http://www.aillweecave.ie/.