The Irish Manor In Photos (part 1)
Words by Dalene Heck / Photos by Pete Heck
Welcome to your tour of… The Manor!
This post could also easily be called Housesitting 301 – The Big Benefits. And it would go well beyond the usual verbage of it being an inexpensive way to travel.
Our foray into housesitting has gratefully led us here – to an expansive manor on 65 acres in rural Ireland. Parts of the estate date back to the 10th century, when it existed only as a lookout tower for the villagers. There have been many additions since then, with most of it (and the interior styling) done in the 18th century.
The east-facing front of the Manor.
View from the front door
From the backyard at dusk
The outside view of the ballroom
The garden on the north-west corner of the Manor, where we will be doing lots of work! A dovecote is beyond the doorway.
A dovecote was used to raise pigeons to be eaten. It now stores tools for the garden.
The cute pink door to our cottage, attached on the south side of the Manor.
I could fill a whole other post with pictures of all the charming doors and interesting corners.
This used to be a kitchen (you can see where the roof was attached and the remains of a stove), but is now a beautiful courtyard.
There are so many other interesting features across the property. Here are cherry blossoms along the path to the orchard.
The gate to the orchard.
Old servants quarters, which are now used for beehives.
A river runs through the property, which locals will use for fishing.
Across the river is the “Island Wood”, and it has a structure once used as a tea house. It’s kinda spooky!
And there’s even a graveyard. Spookier, still!
Near the graveyard is a Holy Well, maintained and cared for by the locals.
Ancient tools found around the property.
The four hens we are taking care of. Pete is quite excited every morning to see how many eggs there are – like they are Christmas presents!
Olly, our sweet, four-legged furbaby for two months! One downside of traveling is that we really miss having pets in our life, so Olly is getting lots of love.
Next week we will show you images from inside the Manor and our cottage!
Have we convinced you of the merits of housesitting yet? Check out our posts Housesitting 101 on how to get started.
Wow! What strikes me most is how utterly 180 degrees different the experience must be from Roatan. Vive le différence, yes?
Si, claro! Pero, hay arbols de palma en Dublin! No se porque? (An experiment gone wrong, I think).
It is pretty different, but what they both have in common is how GREEN everything is! But, the beer is much better here. 🙂
This place looks amazing, like something out of a storybook! I can’t wait to see the inside.
It is storybook-like, especially for these humbled North Americans who grew up around buildings that were rarely over 100 years old!
really fabulous looking place! Congrats. Inspiration for all of us.
Thanks Michael, nice of you to say. We are really excited to be here.
Whoa! You two have scored a winner! How do you ever get anything done?? I’d be out and about all day just soaking up the surrounds and taking photos!
I thought the huge house that Jeremy and I are housesitting in Redmond, Oregon was impressive, but you have us beat by an Irish country mile!
Enjoy!
Impressive old manor + brand new camera = a LOT of pictures being taken, don’t worry about that! The last two days we’ve been housebound because of rain, but that’s okay. Gives our batteries a rest. 🙂
I knew it, I knew it, I knew it……there would be vines covering some part of that manor. It is awesome & can’t wait to see the inside & also your cottage. Loved the pink door, but man I sure wouldn’t want to have been the person who cleaned out the dovecote.
Oh yes, plenty of vines! Haha, yeah, I wouldn’t have wanted to be that person too! There actually must have been someone who stayed right in there because in the other corner there is a little spot for a stove.
WOW!! I thought our current housesit in Canada was pretty cool, but I like your manor much better 🙂
But you’re still in our home country! So it’s gotta be pretty good! 🙂
OMG that place is like a dream come true. Do you feel like the luckiest people in the world? Brian and I are deadset on housesitting after reading all of your posts on it. Housesitting is going to be an important part of our travels. Amazing!
We do feel pretty fortunate. And it is quite an experience already – these small city folk becoming somewhat farmers! But, it’s been good so far!
Wow!! I can’t wait to see inside. This is so amazing and fairy tale like. It instantly reminds me of reading the secret garden. What an amazing experience! This is exactly what I’d like to believe a manor in Ireland would be like 😀
It’s funny, we kind of came into this blind – well, we had seen pictures, but with any housesitting gig, you don’t REALLY know what it’s gonna be like until you get here. There are definitely some downfalls to living in a place so old, but overall, it’s pretty cool!
That’s astonishing. I love that you have a dog for two months – how freaking’ cool is that!?
He’s kind of a meathead, but it’s still nice to have a pet again. 🙂
Wow!! That’s amazing – I’d love to roam the grounds of a place like that. Exciting =)
Wow – so glad that you guys got that new toy (camera)! This place offers so many great photo ops!
The Manor looks gorgeous. I love the tea house picture. I’m making a note to myself that I definitely have to try house sitting.
the rainbow shot is amazing. are you allowed to use the “ballroom’?
Oh yes! Well, it is now an indoor badminton court. Pictures of the inside coming this week!
Do you need a servant?… we can always kick out the bees, right? Very nice. I love the old Irish tombstone.
Every mansion needs a butler! And there are some ugly spiders and beetles that Pete could use some help with clearing out of my way.. 🙂
So awesome!!!!! I want to be you guys!!
Are you going to start dressing up in old fashioned clothes? that would be at least fun to do for some cool photographs of you around the property! haha 🙂
You are in our brain…check back on Friday for EXACTLY that! 🙂
Such a beautiful house – like living in another era…
Wow looks like you are living in an historical tourist attraction! You can explore that before tackling the rest of the area 😀
I have to say I would get spooked there but it’s nice to have Olly to keep you company 🙂 Looks beautiful anyway!
It is a little spooky, I agree with you there. I’m not sure if Olly would be much help (he’s a bit of a meathead), but he barks really loud at least… 🙂
What an incredible place to call home, even temporarily!
Wow! How exciting. What a great place to be staying. so totally jealous and really inspired to do the same thing.
Wow – I want to come and visit you. Reminds me of a book called the Secret garden
Come on over! 🙂
Ooooo pretty pictures. My favorite is the white gate.
I like the … SYMMETRY of it. ^_^
Haha, can we have TWO entries?
Hard to say for sure, it takes a lot of effort to add photos (we’re talking like 3 whole minutes!).
On an unrelated note, my PayPal balance is a little low… and is linked to the e-mailed I used in this comment…
I know you’ll make the right decision.
^___^
Wow! It looks like something you’d only see in a movie, or maybe a storybook. So cool that you guys are actually calling it “home” for a while!
Wow, it’s beautiful! I can’t wait to read your stories 🙂
OMGGGG!! I have GOT to get in on this housesitting biz!
Stunning place. And you get to petsit a cute dog into the bargain – bonus! 🙂
What a fantastic house! Looks like a lot of work but I can’t wait to see the inside. Love the garden and the dog! 🙂
That really seems like a rural place! Nice! I’m sure you’ll have a good time.
Shut the H@#L up! This is your house sit!!!
🙂
Wow. Looks like quite a place!
SPEECHLESS! Your location seems so romantic, or maybe that’s just the eye of the camera…
It is pretty romantic. Some parts of it are definitely worse for wear, but it’s still pretty cool! 🙂
Wow, looks amazing! I don’t think I’ve ever been, let alone stayed, anywhere that looks like that – so cool. Definitely great promotion for housesitting – we’re going to be all over that.
Sweet digs my friends. Very Knights of the Round Table meets Narnia…lol…
Now we just need to find the witch in the wardrobe… 🙂 (Wait, is that a thing?)
How freaking cool and gorgeous! WOW! I’m moving on to the rest of your photos right now…! xo
Can I come visit you guys?? Wow… such a cool place to stay for 2 months! I’m beyond jealous. 🙂
Yes, come please! Only just over a month left… 🙁
Wow!!! That place has GOT to be haunted, is it??? Spooky! At least you have a pup there to bark at the ghosties!
Haven’t come across any ghosties yet…but it still freaks me out a little! 🙂
The Manor looks creepy, though great pictures, keep up the great work.