Taking the Kids: Visiting an Irish castle

Eileen Ogintz, Tribune Content Agency on Mar 14, 2024

Some welcome kids and pets. Some have gourmet restaurants, luxurious spas, horseback riding, golf, archery, biking, tennis, fishing and even falconry. Most of them have extensive grounds.

The 800-year-old Ashford Castle, the former home of the Guinness family, along with Dromoland Castle and Lough Eske Castle are among the most upscale, according to Ireland.com. Ashford Castle is the setting for the 2024 Ashford History Festival taking place April 19-20, 2024. Irish-America is the theme for this year’s event with four of Ireland’s leading historians, historical and political writers and broadcasters exploring pivotal moments in Irish-American history

At Dromoland Castle there is a new luxury five-bedroom, five bathroom lodge on the 500-acre grounds complete with its own concierge — ideal perhaps for extended families exploring their Irish heritage. Dromoland Castle has a resident genealogist who can help you do the research and they also offer a special genealogy package.

At Ashford Castle, take a hand-crafted wooden boat to enjoy a deluxe picnic on a private island. Special experiences enable you to visit locals, including a blacksmith, a wool spinner at a sheep farm, beekeeper, a forager on the seashore (return to the kitchen and prepare your seafood), a cheesemaker and a chocolatier. Spend a morning making Irish soda bread.

Nearly a decade — and many hotel stays later – I still think about the lavish breakfast spread at Ashford Castle. Everything from black pudding (it gets its color from pig’s blood, but tastes better than it sounds) to porridge with a splash of Irish Whiskey studded with dried fruit, hand-carved ham, smoked salmon and smoked trout, fresh from local rivers, freshly baked scones, fried filet of halibut, a traditional Irish breakfast with mushrooms and tomatoes. The list goes on and on. The breakfast buffet, I learned, was inspired by Lord Ardilaun, a scion of the Guinness family who owned the castle for more than a century. He insisted on only the freshest and most varied of local produce, a tradition continued today.

One icon of St. Patrick’s Day is the leprechaun, whose original Irish name was “lobaircin,” meaning “small-bodied fellow,” according to History.com. Belief in leprechauns probably stems from Celtic belief in fairies, tiny men and women who could use their magical powers to serve good or evil.

Certainly, we could use some of those magical powers today!

========

(For more Taking the Kids, visit www.takingthekids.com and also follow TakingTheKids on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram where Eileen Ogintz welcomes your questions and comments. The fourth edition of The Kid’s Guide to New York City and the third edition of The Kid’s Guide to Washington D.C. are the latest in a series of 14 books for kid travelers published by Eileen.)