Author Archives: miladysboudoir

Tuesday 12 May 2015 : My Very Own Bloomsday

“Bloomsday is a celebration that takes place both in Dublin and around the world. It celebrates Thursday 16 June 1904, which is the day depicted in James Joyce’s novel Ulysses. The day is named after Leopold Bloom, the central character in Ulysses. The novel follows the life and thoughts of Leopold Bloom and a host of other characters – real and fictional – from 8am on 16 June 1904 through to the early hours of the following morning.

Celebrations often include dressing up like characters from the book and in clothes that would have been the style of the era. One of the hallmark fancy dress items of Bloomsday is the straw boater hat. Celebrations come in many different forms like readings, performances and visiting the places and establishments that are referenced in the book. The Bloomsday Breakfast is another common celebration, which involves eating the same breakfast as Leopold Bloom consumes on the morning of 16 June. This includes liver and kidneys alongside the typical ingredients of an Irish fried breakfast.”

joyce breakfast

Joyce’s Table set for Breakfast at The Martello Tower Continue reading →

FOR SALE : Preserved and meticulously restored : The Crocker Tavern House, Barnstable, MA

Crocker Tavern House sign

Crocker seems to have been a popular name around Barnstable, MA, where we stayed on our recent trip to New England. Our AirBnB was the annexe of Henry Crocker House (Item 2 on Page 2) and just across the road is the Crocker Tavern House. And there’s an Historic New England property in nearby Yarmouth Port The Winslow Crocker House. We’ve visited this area before. In fact, we’ve stayed in Barnstable a few times and I wrote about it here in 2012.

CTH

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Ancient Ireland [6] : Youghal

youghal poster

It’s beginning to seem like every place in Ireland has ancient connections and that this thread will run and run. But here is another walk description of the ancient port of Youghal (pronounced Yawl), Co. Cork. My walk was a guided one with local town crier, Clifford, in his full town-crying regalia. But it more less followed the suggested Town Walk in this leaflet which I have abbreviated here.

ring-of-cork-clifford-winser

Clifford Continue reading →

Ancient Ireland [5] : Glendalough

The name Glendalough means ‘the valley of the two lakes’ but this is an understatement for the beauty of the place. The Valley is located in the Wicklow Mountains National Park and I’m quite surprised to discover that it is only on the ‘Tentative List’ of early medieval Irish monastic sites for UNESCO World Heritage status. It’s home to one of the most important monastic sites in Ireland: the early Christian monastic settlement founded by St. Kevin in the 6th century.

Wicklow Way

The Wicklow Way national trail passes through the Glendalough but on my brief visit we decided to stick with the Green Road to Upper Lake. Continue reading →

Ancient Ireland [3] : Lismore

Other features of ancient Ireland are the stones – carvings and standing. We saw the carvings on the stones at Knowth but there are more carved stones scattered across the countryside. Or … maybe not scattered at all but strategically or symbolically placed monuments. There are wells dedicated to saints. There are ancient churches, cathedrals, monasteries and abbeys – the earliest religious foundations.

Some of these ancient sites I came across on my walks.

Lady Louisa’s Walk, Lismore

LL Walk Lismore

[Following description is from here.]

Lady Louisa’s walk is a gentle and picturesque walk which takes you, for the most part, on a woodland walk along the river bank. Continue reading →

Wentworth Castle Gardens Revisited

In June 2013 I wrote about my visit to Wentworth Castle Gardens mentioning that I hoped to return to inspect the completed restoration of the Victorian Glasshouse. Yesterday, at last, I managed to get back there and noticed that the trust, the employees, contractors and volunteers had made many further improvements and additions.

Glasshouse

The Fully Restored Victorian Glasshouse

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Ancient Ireland [2] : The Round Towers

One unusual, mysterious but distinctive feature of the ancient Irish landscape was the Round Tower. Many of these are still well preserved and can be seen at, mainly monastic, sites across Ireland today. At the time they were built they would have been exceptionally prominent features in a largely untamed landscape. They were defensive but also prestigious.

Cashel 3

Rock of Cashel, Co, Tipperary

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Port Eliot Festival Revisited

Last year I was very happy to attend The Port Eliot Festival in Cornwall as one of Lynne’s team in the Dovegreyreader tent. At the time I decided that I’d be back again this year as a visitor and see more of what was on offer. I mentioned this to three friends and we all decided to book a cottage in Cornwall for the week and spend at least one day at the Festival. Not long after, the National Trust Cottage ‘Harbour View’ at Boscastle was booked for the week 31st July to 7th August and day tickets bought for the Festival for Saturday 1st August.

Harbour View

Harbour View at Boscastle

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Travels in an Unwrecked Landscape : Elmley Castle, Worcestershire

The book “England : travels in an unwrecked landscape” published in 1996 is a collection of essays by the late Candida Lycett-Green which first appeared in The Oldie magazine.

unwrecked

My well-thumbed copy

If you enjoy discovering lovely places here in England this book can act as a guide. But I’ve also enjoyed just reading it from cover to cover.

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