Day 448: The Tale of Talbots

16/10/2022

A new day and another peaceful start with the kids sent across the corridor to the grandparents. After a lot of giggles and “come back Lachlan, becareful Lachlan”, we grabbed breakie and made our way down Dublin Road to Swords Castle.

Swords Castle is an early medieval castle located in Swords, Dublin. Originally built for the Archbishops of Dublin in the early 13th century near the Ward River, some of the castle estate had fallen into disrepair by the 14th and 15th centuries. At least partially occupied through the 16th and 17th centuries, the castle was used as a place of rendezvous by Anglo-Irish Catholic families during the 1641 Rebellion. The site was afforded protection as a National Monument and placed under the guardianship of the Office of Public Works in the early 20th century. As of the late 20th and early 21st century, the site was subject to a program of “long term phased restoration”, and is partially opened for tours. The site is listed on Fingal County Council’s Record of Protected Structures.

We jumped on another bus and headed east towards Malahide Castle and Gardens.

Little did we know we were walking into the Tale of Talbots. We started by passing through the Talbot Botanic Garden.

The kiddies were excited to visit the Butterfly House.

There were not loads of butterflies, but there were a few interesting ones. When we started seeing the butterflies flying about we had both extremes, Eloise was not sure and decided butterflies were not her thing. Lachlan-Lachlan mistook them for flying popcorn and had to be restrained.

Eloise was quick to the exit and we managed to escort Lachlan out before any butterflies were harmed. There were lots to explore in the Talbot’s garden, including some familiar looking trees.

Milo Talbot, 7th Baron Malahide was the last in a very long line of Talbots who had almost continuous connection with Malahide since they were first granted the lands in 1185. Between 1948 and his death in 1973, Milo Talbot enhanced the grounds of the castle, laying out 20 acres of gardens and introducing many rare trees and shrubs, especially species from Australasia which were his particular passion.

Lachlan was still on a high from his butterfly encounter and charged his way towards Xavier’s house, Malahide Castle.

The kids had to be on their best behaviour as the only way in was on the castle tour. Grandma thought the castle was “Liammm, don’t put pressure on me, I agree with Michael, it was like a large manor, bit of a shame we had to do the set tour, the gardens were impressive though”.

Malahide Castle, parts of which date to the 12th century, lies close to the village of Malahide, nine miles (14 km) north of central Dublin in Ireland… The estate began in 1185, when Richard Talbot, a knight who accompanied Henry II to Ireland in 1174, was granted the “lands and harbour of Malahide.” The oldest parts of the castle date back to the 12th century and it was home to the Talbot family for 791 years, from 1185 until 1976.

We were all starving by this point. To prevent Grandma from getting hangry, Lachlan had just the thing, soggy dry biscuits for lunch.

After some delicious food, we would not expect anything less for the Talbots, we continued trying to keep up with Eloise and Lachlan, as we found another fairy trail.

After a fun family weekend in Dublin, it was that time, Eloise showed us to her Fairy Airport, we were in a rush as Liverpool was about to kick off.

It was a quick up and down after a couple of days packed with action, we had two kids who were ready for bed, well, metaphorically at least.

Wholesomely, “more than a thousand Paddington bears and other teddies left by the public in memory of the late Queen are to be sent to charity, Buckingham Palace says. The toys were left at royal residences such as the palace and Windsor Castle after her death in September. The bears have been professionally cleaned and will be delivered to the children’s charity Barnardos. An image of the Queen Consort and the bears has been released to mark the donation”.