Fermanagh March 2011

A typical day over in Fermanagh…sunny, lots to do and nice people..(only joking – it’s not normally that sunny)…there is so much to do and I genuinely believe it is the most wonderful county in the United Kingdom…

We started out taking the kids to see the new lambs at a family friends farm…

Then we went to Castle Archdale, a country park by Loch Erne. Its staggeringly beautiful with lots to do. First off, we fed the ducks at the moor side

Then to the visitors centre..that has so much history behind it. During WW2, it housed crews of seaplanes that patrolled the North Atlantic to protect the convoys from America. Prior to that it was a stately home of the Archdale family…the grounds and buildings are magnificent.  Although the main house fell into disrepair and was demolished in 1973, the rest of the complex remains and has been restored..

We had a lovely picnic there…and all that good country air completely trashed the kids that night

St Patricks Day, Enniskillen

We took a weeks leave to go back to Ireland and see our family and our new house.  Again Sharon’s sister Denise looked after us like royalty, and nieces Laura and Elaine pampered us and really made us feel at home. Thanks to the Armstrong's for that xxx.

We were lucky enough to be over for Paddys Day this year…especially so because Enniskillen had reintroduced the Paddys Day parade through the town.
The kids loved it…we went with Laura together with her son Matthew, Denise and their brother Stephens kids Alex and Dillon, and Elaine….so all in all, a nice little group of going down to see Paddy arriving at Enniskillen on the boat and walking through the town.

Now the parade was a bit random…there were trucks going down there that got me wondering….like one with concrete pipes on, a fleet of unmarked white vans, a completely unusual gathering of a trike, followed by a knight galloping on an imaginary horse then an old VW Beetle…I got to thinking what Paddy would actually make of it…..

Anyhow, have a look at the pictures……

Ireland June 2010

We went back to Ireland in June for a week to see Sharon's family and look for a house for when we retire. We were lucky enough to have a great bit of weather while we were over there and, as always, we were so well looked after by the Armstrong's and the Griffith’s.

We went down to Muckross, a lovely little patch by loch Erne in Fermanagh for launching boats, having picnics and whatnot….its a lovely area

Another place that I love is Bundoran in Co Donegal. Have a look at these…

We had a wonderful day out with Denise and Matty at the American Folk Museum. I really recommend a visit if you’re around the Omagh area…

Ireland June 2009

Hi again folks. Well, I've been a bit poor on the old blog front and despite all my promises to do retro entries, I've left it so long that it seems a bit of an impossible task to update. To that end, I'll just put in an entry from a holiday in Ireland and a holiday in France.

So here's the blog from Ireland:

We went over in late June 2009 to see Sharon's family and also to look for a house (I've about two & a half years left before I return to Ireland to set up home).

We stayed with Sharon's sister, Denise, who always looks after us when we go home. Emily & Hannah love Auntie Denise's. Emily moreso bu thats to be expected; she's Emily's godmother.

Anyway, here's a picture of Denise & Sharon on a quay on the Loch Erne....

As always, Sharons family looks after us when we come home. Shirelle, Sharon's sis in law, always makes sure we're included in the family and she's an absolute star. This visit, she'd organised a bar-b-que for the Griffith clan.................

We went across the border to Bundoran in Donegal

Well, this is a short looksee at Ireland....

...France is next.......