Yeats's Country

The lovely old church in Drumcliffe, Sligo where  W.B. Yeats is buried.

This year, we decided that we would stay in Ireland for our holiday. Because of work commitments we had to split it into two four day breaks. So, for the first we headed over the border into County Sligo. It is full of fishing ports and wonderful sandy beaches. Although my photos look a bit grey, we actually had the most wonderful weather and were able to make the most of the beaches. Sligo town is where W.B. Yeats mother's family is from and where he spent time as a child. There are a lot of tributes to him everywhere and had I not got a nine year old with me, I should have liked to look into his history a bit further. We did get to go to the church, St. Columba's, where you can view his very simple grave. The church was restored in the 1990's and I think has sadly lost some of it's integrity, but you can still see it is a very old and charming building, but it is the setting that is quite breathtaking. The scenery around is so wild and beautiful and you can imagine it hasn't changed for centuries, there was once a monastry on this site.

Our Hotel was situated near Rosses Point, a lovely shaded cove amd we spent quite a lot of time walking along the edge of the sea. We also went to Sandhill which is a more exposed beach with a surfing school. Everywhere was remarkably quiet, the state of the economy obviously having an effect. However, there is the most laid back relaxed atmosphere and the locals are so friendly and lovely. If you want to get away from the hurly birly, this is the place.

A lovely yellow house in the fishing port of Mullaghmore.

My family rolled their eyes when I unpacked some roses from a plastic bag. I think that some hotels are rather soul-less and need some roses from my garden, plus the smell wafted me off to sleep at night!

So, a jolly good time was had by all! When we got back I had to cook and do flowers and table decorations for a clients 25th Wedding Anniversary party, so it was all go!

I do apologise, my photos are not terribly good! My client s had gone to Hawaii for their anniversary and so we had a kind of tropical beach theme going, without trying to be to  typically Hawaiian. The colour scheme was turquoise, lime green and white. The wreath for her front door was made from White roses that have a green tinge, Queen Annes Lace, white Agapanthus, Snowball Viburnum, white Scented Stock and a few quirky little onion topped  Alliums (I think they are actually Leeks gone to seed!) I added some white seashells and one starfish. On the mantel I did 5 little jam jar arrangements, using the same flowers and then a little tag added which said 'fleurs'. Of course I forgot to photogrph these, but this picture from Tumblr was my inspiration.

The table decoration consisted of large tissue paper flowers, a trail of sand with shells and starfish and some turquoise tealights. I also filled a large glass tank with sand  and decorated with candles and shells, for the sideboard. The napkins where folded to incorporate a pocket for the cutlery and tied with some pretty striped ribbon. Sadly I forgot to photograph the food. I made two large hams with a Pistachio and Ornge crust, Panko Chicken (which are marinated chicken fillets which are then coated in Japanese Panko crumbs, which makes for a lovely crispy topping). These are served cold , sliced on the diagonal with a Fresh Peach Chutney. I made Pear and Almond Tart for dessert and Tiffin for the children. Then I did White Chocolate Covered Pretzels , packed into clear c.d. wallets and tied with ribbon as goodie bags. So today I am feeling quite tired! We are off again tomorrow on the second part of our hols to County Wicklow, it is a very beautiful area too. I will try to take more photos this time. I am so far behind on my reading, so I do apologise to all whose blogs I follow, but sometimes you simply cannot do it all. Have a wonderful week , love Linda x