No recap of any trip to anywhere would be complete with my mentioning our accommodations. For me, where we stay and whether or not it is comfortable is a big deal (think Interlochen and Stone Hotel for three miserable weeks...)
Last year, we had the most delightful little cottage. Everything was new and worked well. I appreciate the simple idea of that because after a long day, out exploring, it's so nice to come back and relax. Unfortunately, the cottage from last year wasn't big enough to house our entire family, so I had to find a new place. A place close enough to everything, and large enough.
Enter Causeway Lodge. From the pictures on the website, it looked pretty good. Comfortable with newer furnishings, and it said it slept 10. It wasn't the priciest place, so I knew we were in business. I booked it months ago, because as experience has taught me, the good houses always go fast.
It probably should have been a sign that we were the only booking for the months preceding and following our stay!
I don't know how old Causeway Lodge actually is, but it's old. At some point, it was probably the farmhouse for the surrounding fields. And yes, something that wasn't mentioned in the description? It actually sits in the middle of a working dairy farm. If we weren't careful, we would be stepping in something we didn't want to step in.
There were cows passing from the barn to the fields in the morning, and back to the barn at night, all within feet of the front door. In fact, we were asked to keep the gate closed so that the cows wouldn't get stuck in our little driveway. And they were sad, sad cows. Emaciated and limping.
There were some really great aspects to the place. The upstairs living area was nice and large and had great views. The kitchen too was huge with more counter space than I've ever seen in a kitchen. Too bad though that the refrigerator was not much bigger than a bread box and didn't keep anything cool. And that the cookery assortment was pathetic and random (with John trying to fix a handle on a saucepan the first night).
Thankfully, the kitchen table was great, because we spent a heck of a lot of time around it. In fact, my absolute favorite moment of the trip was breakfast. Breakfast on any day, because Mark would make blini (Russian crepes), Ethan would make eggs (hopefully not in sausage grease), and Hannie would fry up legit Irish sausage from the Bushmills butcher (Bushmills sausage was the best sausage I've ever tasted). Turns out, Ireland imports some of the sweetest fruit I've ever had too, and we spread the blini with nutella and sliced fresh fruit.
It's funny. I've always wished for a time like this. Breakfast together as a family. We've never been able to pull it off as a family, because our schedules have never meshed in the mornings. Or we'll have a quick bowl of cereal together. Having a home-cooked, gourmet breakfast each morning with all eight of us? That's my idea of heaven.
One really great thing about the house was that it had both a washer AND dryer. I laugh, remembering how many nights in Ireland I've spent draping wet clothes on top of radiators, hoping they'll be dry by morning. Of course, this one trip, it was sunny and warm, and I ended up hanging a lot of my clothes on the balcony, drying in the warm Irish sun ;-)
I don't know about anyone else's beds, but for John and me, it was a living hell. One of the worst mattresses with an even worse cover. In fact, we weren't the only ones with an "innovative" comforter. It seems that just about everyone had a large foam pad covered with a zippered sheet.
The "kid" room looked really nice online. I figured there would be plenty of room for them. Oh my gosh, can I reference the bread box again? Thankfully Mark had the flu and ended up sleeping on the couches upstairs, leaving a bit more room to move around.
And the water. Hot showers became Olympic events. How fast can you take a shower before the hot water runs out? By the end, Ethan told me that he just got in, washed the important "parts" and got out. Timing proved to be everything too with most of us taking our showers throughout random times of the day. Anything to get one more minute of warm water.
Maybe we should have taken our showers in our balmy refrigerator....
And although John and I had a very nice, large bathroom, the other two approximated an airplane restroom: barely enough room to even sit!
I've learned my lesson. Spend the extra little bit to get a place that we can LOVE.
Last year, we had the most delightful little cottage. Everything was new and worked well. I appreciate the simple idea of that because after a long day, out exploring, it's so nice to come back and relax. Unfortunately, the cottage from last year wasn't big enough to house our entire family, so I had to find a new place. A place close enough to everything, and large enough.
Enter Causeway Lodge. From the pictures on the website, it looked pretty good. Comfortable with newer furnishings, and it said it slept 10. It wasn't the priciest place, so I knew we were in business. I booked it months ago, because as experience has taught me, the good houses always go fast.
It probably should have been a sign that we were the only booking for the months preceding and following our stay!
I don't know how old Causeway Lodge actually is, but it's old. At some point, it was probably the farmhouse for the surrounding fields. And yes, something that wasn't mentioned in the description? It actually sits in the middle of a working dairy farm. If we weren't careful, we would be stepping in something we didn't want to step in.
There were cows passing from the barn to the fields in the morning, and back to the barn at night, all within feet of the front door. In fact, we were asked to keep the gate closed so that the cows wouldn't get stuck in our little driveway. And they were sad, sad cows. Emaciated and limping.
 |
| Just waiting for The Knight Bus to pull out so we could close the gate. |
There were some really great aspects to the place. The upstairs living area was nice and large and had great views. The kitchen too was huge with more counter space than I've ever seen in a kitchen. Too bad though that the refrigerator was not much bigger than a bread box and didn't keep anything cool. And that the cookery assortment was pathetic and random (with John trying to fix a handle on a saucepan the first night).Thankfully, the kitchen table was great, because we spent a heck of a lot of time around it. In fact, my absolute favorite moment of the trip was breakfast. Breakfast on any day, because Mark would make blini (Russian crepes), Ethan would make eggs (hopefully not in sausage grease), and Hannie would fry up legit Irish sausage from the Bushmills butcher (Bushmills sausage was the best sausage I've ever tasted). Turns out, Ireland imports some of the sweetest fruit I've ever had too, and we spread the blini with nutella and sliced fresh fruit.
It's funny. I've always wished for a time like this. Breakfast together as a family. We've never been able to pull it off as a family, because our schedules have never meshed in the mornings. Or we'll have a quick bowl of cereal together. Having a home-cooked, gourmet breakfast each morning with all eight of us? That's my idea of heaven.
One really great thing about the house was that it had both a washer AND dryer. I laugh, remembering how many nights in Ireland I've spent draping wet clothes on top of radiators, hoping they'll be dry by morning. Of course, this one trip, it was sunny and warm, and I ended up hanging a lot of my clothes on the balcony, drying in the warm Irish sun ;-)
I don't know about anyone else's beds, but for John and me, it was a living hell. One of the worst mattresses with an even worse cover. In fact, we weren't the only ones with an "innovative" comforter. It seems that just about everyone had a large foam pad covered with a zippered sheet.
The "kid" room looked really nice online. I figured there would be plenty of room for them. Oh my gosh, can I reference the bread box again? Thankfully Mark had the flu and ended up sleeping on the couches upstairs, leaving a bit more room to move around.And the water. Hot showers became Olympic events. How fast can you take a shower before the hot water runs out? By the end, Ethan told me that he just got in, washed the important "parts" and got out. Timing proved to be everything too with most of us taking our showers throughout random times of the day. Anything to get one more minute of warm water.
Maybe we should have taken our showers in our balmy refrigerator....
And although John and I had a very nice, large bathroom, the other two approximated an airplane restroom: barely enough room to even sit!
I've learned my lesson. Spend the extra little bit to get a place that we can LOVE.
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