Birr Castle: A Quick Post

Now THAT is a castle!

Yesterday we had to say goodbye to Aaron’s dad and stepmom, Grace, who met us for four wonderful days in Dublin. Right on cue, the skies turned gray and the rain came down. Needing to get out of town, we rented a car and headed towards Adare (a small town near Limerick) for our next house sitting gig. As we drove it only got darker and darker. *sigh* Then, finally, out of nowhere, a slice of blue sky! The tiniest sliver of light on a most dreadful day. Follow that exit!! Without any kind of plan we got off the highway and gave ourselves 20 km to find something good. You know, like a snack – we were both starving. What we found was Birr Castle glowing on an incredible fall day. Our very own moment of serendipity here in the land of four leaf clovers.

When we got off the motorway, we followed this fellow to….

THE CASTLE

Welcome to Birr Castle, home to seven generations of Earls of Rosse.

This is the Birr Castle. Built in medieval times, it passed hands repeatedly until it was “granted” to the Parsons family in 1620. They have occupied it continuously since then! Can you imagine living in the same house for 500 years?

What, this ole thing? I guess it’s okay…

Everyone needs a tower or two.

THE SUSPENSION BRIDGE

Apparently the Parsons were some big-time self-taught engineers. They designed this marvelous bridge and built it in their workshop around 1810. It’s the oldest steel suspension bridge in Ireland.

Aw c’mon…like the day wasn’t pretty enough, then they go and put this amazing bridge here. My heart skipped a beat.

Gorgeous, eh?

Climbing plants down the side..kind of romantic.

Just like the look of the steel, the autumn colored rust, and the cracking paint.

Love me a cool looking bridge…even if I couldn’t cross it!

THE TELESCOPE

The Parsons decided a 72 inch telescope would be a nice add. Being engineers, why not build it themselves? It was designed and built between 1841-1845 before being restored in 1997. For over 50 years it was the largest telescope in the world! It’s still occasionally used.

Telescope with plywood on the front to protect the lens. Really? Just plywood? Still, astronomers using this telescope first determined the shape of spiral galaxies!

THE GROUNDS

There were gardens of all sorts, formal and free-form, terraces, rivers, lakes, and waterfalls.

Little waterfall with a big roar.

Everywhere we looked it was beautiful.

Should that be a jigsaw puzzle or what??

Take a look at this beaut!!

A little more stunning fall scenery.

Fall colors – magical!

Almost seems like an impressionist painting…

This is the bottom of a big old fallen tree with all the root structure exposed and a big hole in the ground where it once stood. Plants have started growing from within it. I was awestruck.

A few minutes before dusk we finally left as we had a house sitting assignment to get to after all. Thanks to the incredible change in weather and this luckiest of random stops we were once again happy and excited to be on the road. We are reminded that stumbling onto, and into, the unknown makes for the greatest of adventures.

Thanks Birr!

One last snapshot for the scrapbook.