Last Sunday myself and some family members went to Richard Corrigan's Virginia Park Lodge which is a beautiful old hunting lodge in Virginia, County Cavan owned by Michelin Star Chef Richard Corrigan. This was a Halloween themed dinner as part of Virginia Pumpkin Festival which is an annual Halloween festival run by the local community in Virginia.

Upon arrival at the Lodge, you enter through a splendid tree lined avenue which sweeps around to the front of the Lodge into the yard at the rear. There are plenty of stone outbuildings which I presume were originally the stables/mews of the lodge. These appear to be accommodation for the lodge guests. The rear entrance of the Lodge is through an archway with lots of neatly stacked logs  piled for the many open fires dotted throughout the building. There are plenty of  small rooms and alcoves with open fires, wood paneled walls, luxurious leather couches and ornate wooden furniture. You will find lots of wellingtons, fishing rods and a few guns too in the mudroom!

We had our meal in a marquee in the front lawn. With the name 'Pumpkins, Pigs & Pints' there was obviously a Halloween theme to the menu. We had plenty of pumpkin, pork and pints of local ale and lager.  I am not a drinker so I could of done without the pints- a nice cup of tea would have suited me better. Overall the food was  tasty with lots of flavours. It was an enjoyable experience. I am not a good cook or chef and definitely not a foodie so my visit here was all about the feel of the place, the heritage, history and the luxury of the old lodge. Richard has done a great job on conserving the heritage of the building while decorating it to feel homely and stylish. It was a wet afternoon so we didn't get time to explore the gardens, however, I have heard they are beautiful with lots of woodland walks. The walled gardens along with the poly-tunnels in the Lodge Gardens are supplying Richard's London Restaurants- Bentley's an oyster and seafood restaurant off Piccadilly and Corrigan's Mayfair. I would recommend that you visit the new website Virginia Park Lodge and keep a watch out for future events. In my opinion this is just the beginning of a great new luxury country retreat in rural County Cavan.

Autumn has really set in here in Ireland. It is 7 o' clock now and getting dark. I have the fire lit in the wood burning stove and it is really cosy here. The weather was lovely today, lots of sunshine and very mild too. The leaves are falling off the trees, mushrooms are popping up in the grass and there are berries all over the hedgerows. I love Autumn time and like to make my home nice and cosy for the long nights ahead, a bit like the hedgehog preparing for hibernation. Here are some lovely images from Your Home Magazine Website of Autumn Interior Design Trends. Both are from Laura Ashley. Hope you like them and to see more visit their website- it is full of lovely images and decorating ideas.

 

To see more images and where to buy all of the nine items above visit Your Home

Today I went off on my adventures again and here are some photographs to share with you. We went to Belvedere House and Gardens. I hope you are all enjoying the lovely Summer, the weather is fabulous here! So perfect! I get to work from home tomorrow which is a nice change. Hope all the Dads out there had a nice Fathers Day too :)

Here is a folly on the estate. This is the largest folly in Ireland. For those of you who may not know, a folly is an ornamental building serving no useful purpose, mostly built to adorn the landspace. Here is the jealous wall built in 1760 in the style of a ruined medieval abbey to block the view of a larger house nearby resulting from a quarrel over a lady. Doubt these things happen today!!

Another view of the folly!

Here is the large house on the estate known as Belvedere House. The estate comprises of 160 acres along the lake. The house is a large Georgian Villa designed by architect Richard Castles. There is also a wonderful Victorian Walled Garden.

Come with me through the arch to the Secret Walled Garden..

It was so sunny today.. wish it was like this every day...

Another folly on the estate; the Gothic Arch

Spectacular views of the lakeshore

So peaceful and relaxing

What a perfect Sunday, thank you for taking the time to enjoy my photographs and letting me share my memories with you...

Hope you all enjoyed your day too :)

This weekend was a bank holiday weekend here in Ireland :-) Don't you just love long weekends! I hope you all had a nice weekend, did you get up to anything nice??? I Spent some time with my boyfriend and enjoyed the good weather :-) Here are a few photographs I took of the Forest Park...

Hello everyone,

How is all in blogland this week? What has everyone being up to? My first week of work went really well and I really enjoy it :-) I have to go shopping tomorrow to get some work clothes. I might also get around to a bit of crafting. The evenings are getting longer and I'm looking forward to longer days now. I will try and catch up with you all over the weekend. I havent taken any photographs this week but I will tomorrow, until then here are a few more photographs of my walk from last week :)

Now take a seat and relax after that long walk in the woodlands and enjoy the rest of your weekend where ever you are!

Hello Everyone, I hope your enjoying your weekend, the weather was awful here in Ireland last night but today it is dry and sunny :) So hopefully that will last. Here is a photograph I took of the evening sky yesterday evening

My rug is coming along very very slowly, here is a photograph of it so far,

Thursday evening I was in town and bought these lovely storage boxes, they are really pretty. I have put my cross stitch and craft materials into them. They were so cheap €6.00 for the three of them at Dunnes Stores.

Now as the weather is nice, Im off to the woods for a walk, I might bring my camera along so I can take you for a walk through a woodland of Ireland later :)