One Night in County Monaghan

Last weekend, Michael decided we should take a little break away from Dublin for one night. He found us a room at the Castle Leslie Estate in County Monaghan, a county on the border of Northern Ireland that I don’t think I had set foot in before!

This was our room…for about twenty minutes. We dropped our bags, looked around and then headed to get something to eat in the Lodge across the green. And during that dinner (which was delicious) Michael and I both admitted that the room made us both a little nervous – it was like a museum! By the time dinner was over, we had managed to downgrade (well, upgrade for us) ourselves into a room at the Lodge overlooking the stables.

The Lodge was equally old but had been upgraded to be a little more like a modern hotel room and a little less like we might break something. And frankly, the bed was bigger. When you’re married to a dude who’s 6’4 and only have room for a full size bed in your apartment, a king size bed is awfully appealing!

Plus, I loved that just down the hall was the boot room!

We very much wished we had brought our wellies (which we still don’t own, such city slickers we are) when we took a walk around the grounds. It was a perfect chilly morning for a walk, but we were scrubbing mud off our shoes the next day. And we probably looked a tad silly – Michael in Converse and me in two inch booties. Oops!

We paused to say hello to this guy. He and his friends were all wearing their winter coats. The wind was howling!

And then we hopped in the car and took the scenic route back to Dublin! All in all, a super little one night escape from Dublin.