All’s well at Mourne Park Estate, Northern Ireland. Our little garden cottage is very comfy – not so little really with a large kitchen/dining room, sitting room, and three bedrooms. Lots of character. There are heaps of buildings on the estate. The main house, four cottages, stables, carriage barns and workshops. Also acres and acres of beautiful gardens and woodland, a lake, a golf course, and a beautiful tree lined river winding its way along the bottom of the valley. Some lovely walks. We have settled in well!
The sad part is that the main house was very badly damaged by fire in 2013. Marion and Alan – owners – had just finished 10 years of renovations. Beautiful photos on the Mourne Park Estate website. Devastating to see the main house now. Difficulties with the insurance claim has meant little has been done to repair the damage. The bottom floor windows are still boarded up, upper windows missing and open to the weather, and the roof gone completely in the worst effected areas. The house is surrounded by fencing to keep everyone safe. Even the main driveway is sealed off from visitors. We use the back driveway that passes by the golf course. A locked gate, but still accessible.
We are not alone on the estate. We have a neighbour called Chris who lives in the courtyard cottage – sits between the carriage barns and stables. We also have a resident horse called Maurey who lives down by the lake. Chris has been very helpful getting us connected to the internet – he is a web site designer and groundsman. He has also taken us shopping – always handy to have food. Chris and Reg have just spent the morning replacing a belt on the big ride on lawn mower – apparently not an easy task!! We have also walked down to the lake and introduced ourselves to Maurey. He was more interested in searching for carrots than getting to know us at all. Not happy when there was none to be found. Must remember to take some with us next time!
Cheers for now
love Di and Reg
PS now we are back online we can listen to the Crows- our Australian Rules footy team. A good win the other morning – our time. Go Crows!!
This entry was posted in House Sits, Mourne Park (1), Mourne Park, Northern Ireland, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom
Good job the visa requirements won’t allow you to stay for more than 3 months! Otherwise I doubt if you’d ever leave that lovely place!
Ha Ha!!! Very true. It is so peaceful here and so beautiful. A tough assignment – NOT!! xx