Mount Usher Gardens and Finnstown Castle Hotel

Last Thursday and Friday we took ourselves down to Dublin for a wee break. We got a very good deal at the hotel using a scheme run by one of our local supermarkets. Before going to check-in to the hotel we paid a visit to Mount Usher Gardens where we had a nice walk round.

 

We had to cross this bridge over the river. You can see the warning notices that were at both ends of the bridge; no jumping allowed on the bridge! Just walking across the bridge made it bounce so I didn't spend too long on it.

I didn't photograph everything; just a few of the trees and plants that I thought looked unusual.

This cherry tree was blossoming in early December.

We came across this little pet cemetery.

There were quite a few plants flowering. This one was very striking.

After our walk we just had to visit the Avoca Garden Cafe for some refreshments. The carrot cake and coffee were delicious.

We did a bit of shopping though mainly just looking round some lovely shops such as the Avoca shop at Kilmacanogue. Then we headed to our hotel, the Finnstown Castle Hotel, just outside the picturesque village of Lucan, to the west of Dublin. We were very impressed with this place!

There were several peacocks and peahens strutting around the grounds. Sorry it's not a very good picture.

While we were there I took the opportunity to start knitting my Aran coat. The wool is from New Lanark Mill shop; actually 90% wool and 10% silk; the colour is Forest. It's the same yarn I used for my bag (see here and here). My still-hasn't-been-lined-or-got-handles-attached bag! Anyway, back to the coat. I knit the first six rows in garter stitch and then I was supposed to change from 5mm to 5.5mm needles. Arrrghhhh!! I hadn't brought any 5.5mm needles with me. Fortunately I had brought some of the King Cole tinsel yarn and owl pattern with me. So I started an owl. To be honest though, I was totally loaded with the cold and didn't feel much like knitting anything. By the way, since coming home, I accidentally pulled the needle out of what I'd managed to knit of the owl and had to rip it all out. There's no way you can pick up stitches with the tinsel yarn! On the bright side though, I've managed to knit quite a bit of my coat.

On the Friday we drove to the Dundrum Centre where we parked and took the Luas light rail/tram to St. Stephen's Green in Dublin. We wandered round the shops and really enjoyed looking in Brown Thomas especially. Gorgeous but extremely pricey! We ended up in the lovely Powerscourt Centre to have coffee. Oh look. We must have had some biscuit cake as well. You won't believe it, but we were seated right outside a yarn shop for our coffee!! They had needles too, so I bought a pair of 5.5mm wooden ones.

We then returned to Dundrum on the Luas and browsed some of the shops there. Hamleys is a favourite of the husband's. Just a very relaxed day. That evening we had a fantastic four course dinner in the hotel. Free! It was part of the deal we had. The food was really, really good.

So that was our wee pre-Christmas treat. Thoroughly enjoyable. I hope you enjoyed it too. It's great to see I have another few followers and I'm still delighted to read your comments. I've also found some our your lovely blogs to follow too! All the best for now.

Brandy

Remember I introduced you to Brandy at the end of this post? Here he is, just to remind you.

I mentioned that some more tinsel hedgehogs had since joined Brandy. Well here they are. Meet Ginny, Jack, Maria and Whiskey.

Do those names make you think I'm some sort of old souse? You'll be relieved to hear that I'm not; I'm actually teetotal.

The hedgehogs are knitted using King Cole tinsel yarn. It is very soft and can be used for garments such as scarves and shrugs. When I bought the yarn (months ago) I got brown, gold and green, hoping to use it for crocheting Christmas decorations. Once you start trying to work into the first chain you can't see where to put the hook! The yarn is really only usable for knitting, though I did work out that it can be crocheted along with another smooth yarn. Why you'd want to do that, though, I haven't really worked out. I also managed to weave a tiny sample with it which I might use to make a Christmas brooch. Again, why you'd want to weave anything with this is beyond me. However, I am sure someone, somewhere will think up a good way to use it.

When I was making the hedgehogs I couldn't help thinking that it would be easy to turn the body up the other way and make an owl. Well, would you believe it? King Cole have introduced another pattern for owls. They're basically hedgehogs the other way up with large eyes, a beak and bigger feet. I'm going to use my green tinsel yarn to make a couple of owls and will let you see them when they're ready.

I'm off to crochet more snowflakes. I'm crocheting up a blizzard for Christmas.