As we continue our staycations with one-day trips around Dublin, last week we visited Co. Meath.
So many things to see and do in this area of the island! And being so close to Co. Dublin, where we live, makes it a great destination for one-day trips. This time our destination was Loughcrew (the Lougcrew Cairns and Loughcrew Gardens afterwards to get something to eat).
Everybody knows the super popular Newgrange Passage Tomb, an amazing place to visit. Your brain goes nuts just thinking how old it is and how white it looks 😁😁. Well, the Loughcrew cairns (Irish Sliabh na Cailli, meaning Hill of the Witch) are actually older - OLDER- than Newgrange (older than Stonhenge in UK and older than the Egyptian pyramids!!!).
Also, the passage and inside chamber of one of the cairns, more specifically Cairn T, are illuminated by a beam of light at sunrise on the Spring and Autumn equinoxes (in Newgrange, the inside chamber is illuminated at sunrise on the Winter solstice)
We visited some time ago and I loved the place! It is not as super organised as Newgrange (for tourists, I mean): when you get to the car park, you just go up the hill and that's it, you're there.
Actually, that is to me, what makes the place so special: it is beautiful as it is, and there is no need for anything else. Plus if you are lucky and the weather is nice, the views from the top are phenomenal, and so are the sheep that you see on your way up (and the sheep poop!).
Al these pics were taken when we first visited.
When we went back last week, we wanted to start our day visiting the cairns, but when we got there, it started to rain, so we had to restructure our day and went to Loughcrew Gardens first... It's just "around the corner".
We'll have a coffee and come back to the cairns when it stops raining, we thought
But it turned out to be a great place to visit and we stayed there the whole afternoon! Let me see:
1.- There were fairies, all over the estate... or at least there were fairy houses, lots of them (very professionally built, by the way)
2.- We actually saw one fairy... or at least we think we did
3.- We solved our money problems for the next generations (after a few tries - not easy!)
4.- We found the magical door that takes you to the unknown
5.- We found UFOs disguised as flowers
6.- Kids that were imprisoned inside the stone columns because of a spell casted by a very bad witch
7.- The pot that witches use to make their potions and cook bold children
The gardens have everything... you just need a little bit of imagination to create the stories, more or less harsh, depending on the age of the kids, of course.
At the entrance of the garden there is also a cafe with tables outside and a little playground: if the weather is nice, you can relax for a bit, while you have something to eat.
Before we left, we visited St Oliver Plunkett's church, which is in the gardens. St Oliver Plunkett was born just beside the church and lived in the are the first years of his life, before leaving for Rome.
It was late afternoon before we left Loughcrew Gardens, so we made a last minute decision to go to Trim on our way to Dublin, as it was too late to return to Loughcrew Cairns and go up. We would go for a walk around Trim castle before heading back home.
It was "almost" sunny when we got there and the walk was fantastic. Took a few pictures, enjoyed the scenery, the dog had the chance to get tired and we promised ourselves that we would go back one morning to try one of the fabulous looking cafés we saw.
Back to Dublin just in time to get something to eat, have a well deserved shower and off to bed. Perfect day, rain included!
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