A few weeks ago we decided to visit Fore in County Westmeath. I had visited a few time before when I was a child and we went years back before we got married. It has a number of heritage features; ruins of the old Abbey, Church, mill race, arches, graveyard, etc. There is a small visitor centre/coffee shop just down the road in the village but we didn't have time to visit. It is a quaint place with little development. The weather was dry but a little dull. It's a lovely place to visit if you are in the area

I came across this amazing website today while searching for some old cottages, I love it, how did I not come across it before or hear of it. It is called Former Glory and it depicts the wonderful architecture of historic properties in Ireland. As you already know I love photographing ruins and old historical buildings, here are a few of my images below.

{All images my own}

Hope you all had a nice weekend, it's a bank holiday weekend here in Ireland so I get an extra day off work :o) This weekend was the first weekend of May and Summer too. The weather isn't very warm though, although Sunday was sunny at times we had lots of small showers. I didn't go anywhere very far, there was a honda 50 run on but we didn't make it in time, so instead we headed into one of the local towns and took a look around the DIY store. On the way back home just up the road from us I took a few photographs of the local area. I hope you like them, they will give you an idea of how rural the area is and the type of landscape all around me...

A forgotten ruin which was once a family home...

Another forgotten ruin, now a home to a range of wildlife

A view of the forest in the background

Another ruin, with a lovely brick arch, so well built and lasting the test of time

A lone horse making the ruins home.

So peaceful and relaxing..

The sunlight reflecting of one of the lakes

So tranquil and serene

A few trees on the lakeshore

Can you spot the bird in the sky??

These are all photographs of my local area, it is dotted with drumlins and lake systems, forests and forts, farm animals and foliage. The familiarity of these elements of the landscape and the connection with the land creates a very strong sense of place for me, I have great pride and joy in spending time taking in the wonders all around me. To ramble by the shore and take a look around, the beauty there beyond compares is nowhere to be found!

As you already know I love to go exploring on Sunday's with my boyfriend, last Sunday we went to the grounds of a lovely estate run by the National Trust, the weather was beautiful, I was all set to take lots of photographs but as usual my batteries died. I got in a frenzy when I saw the light flashing and got to take these few photographs, so that explains why they are at funny angles. These cottages were part of the old farmyard which was converted into self catering accomodation.

Here is a photograph of the Castle in the distance, the castle is privately owned so we didn't get to see inside :o( We were very disappointed as I'm very nosey and like to see everything!

There were also the ruins of an older castle on the grounds of the estate, a boat house, workers cottages, summer house, mill and stables. I was very disappointed as we had gone here another Sunday in March but it was closed and that day my camera wouldn't work properly either. The grounds were beautiful with an array of wildlife. There were sheep and new born lambs bouncing about in the fields. This Sunday I'll make sure I have the camera batteries fully charged as I'm going to charge them now.

Hope you all have a lovely weekend and I'm looking forward to you all sharing what you got up to.