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Holiday Homes in Kilkenny, Ireland
Summer Newsletter 2015
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IN THIS ISSUE
– News from the Gardens
– News on the Animals & new arrivals
– New amenities in Thomastown and Kilkenny
– Local Festivals
– A 10% discount for every reader!
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Gift Vouchers
If you know someone who might enjoy a break in beautiful Kilkenny, why not get them one their birthday or anniversary.
The vouchers are available for any amount and we can even personalise the voucher for you.
You can buy the vouchers on our website or give us a call and we will post them to you.
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Summer Holidays 2015
There is very limited availability for the rest of the summer holidays at Croan Cottages.
Visit our website to check availability and to book online!
CroanCottages.com
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Croan Cottages Summer 2015
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Brrr! That was a chilly month of May. After the beautiful sunshine and high temperatures of early April, we certainly weren’t expecting to be leaving our jumpers on for another few weeks.
Nonetheless, the low rainfall volumes didn’t dampen our spirits too much and brisk walks in the woods were very enjoyable.
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The succession of flowers brightened life at Croan throughout the Spring. From the early Snowdrops, the Dafodils on the drive, the clouds of White Blossom at the Cottages, the carpet of Bluebells in Castlemorres Woods right through to the purple Campanula and Vibernum at the Walled Garden wall.
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Now that June has arrived and temperatures are rising, we’re looking forward to another productive year in the gardens, building on what we’ve learned from previous seasons.
The cool Spring has meant that we’re later than usual in planting out tender plants but the greenhouse has been invaluable in providing heat and shelter for starting off vegetable plants and keeping our salad bowls full.
The potatoes sown in late Spring and the rows of fodder beet for the animals for the Winter months are greening up the beds nicely.
Rhubarb has really benefited from the cooler conditions and is bursting out of the ground. We experimented with forcing some early stems to accelerate their growth and we’ll certainly be doing it again next Spring.
As the Winter vegetables become scarce (and boring), we were craving something fresh and bright and the sweet, early rhubarb was perfect. Our bumper crop of strawberries will be later to ripen, some come and visit in early July and pick your own!
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We’d like to introduce the newest member of the Croan family.
Peggy is a four month old Labrador x puppy who we rescued from Waterford SPCA.
She’s a big, bouncy bundle of fun, though at times, she drives poor old Poppy crazy.
Poppy really wasn’t impressed that we’d disrupted her peace and quiet with this puppy , though lately, we’ve noticed them playing together, but only when Poppy thinks no one’s watching. Despite the boundless energy and jumping all over her, Poppy’s taking her in hand and showing her who’s boss.
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Animal News
The first of our pedigree ewes has lambed and our 1 day old lamb is coming along nicely. New lambs are always such fun, and given their later arrival this year, we hope all of this year’s lambs will benefit from milder conditions and plentiful pasture.
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Our peacock and peahen are hanging out with the rooster who’s feeling a bit lonely these days: most of the hens are broody and are sitting on eggs.
It’s made a huge dent in their laying, but we’re hoping for a big clutch of chicks to hatch in the next few days to compensate for the scarcity of fresh eggs for the kitchen.
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We are also lucky enough to have a pair of Buzzards nesting in a tree in the field. The chicks have hatched and their piercing cry to mum and dad carries right the way down to the house.
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We also two new Hampshire pigs who are well used to their new home now but they are still small enough to get under the fences!
Bo, our cow, has gone on a ‘romantic getaway’ for a couple of weeks, but will be back soon, hopefully in calf.
The goats still haven’t learned to respect fences, but at this point, I think it’s time to accept that they never will.
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For Summer visitors this year, there’s so much going on this year. Our outdoor table tennis and boules court have a new scoreboard and picnic benches and are ready for some serious competition.
We’re particularly excited about the newly opened outdoor swimming pool in Thomastown. It’s set on the banks of the Nore, in a beautifully landscaped biodiversity park, with a beginner’s pool, a canoeing area and an Olympic sized adult pool and it will have a lifeguard on duty throughout the Summer.
It’s an amazing addition to the sport and leisure facilities in the area and is free to use. Thomastown Paddlers and Go With the Flow Adventures will be organising classes and drop ins for kids and adults throughout the Summer and Kilkenny Aquatics will be doing the same on the Kings’ River in Kells.
The newly opened School of Food in Thomastown will also be offering a wide range a cooking and gardening courses to all comers, from afternoon baking courses to BBQ masterclasses, with special tuition for kids and teens. It’s a convivial and fun way to spend an afternoon, evening or weekend on holidays, with the added bonus of acquiring an new skill, and of course, sampling the produce.
Croan Cottages on Facebook
We really enjoy using our Facebook page to post regular news, updates, photos and recipes from Croan. If you are on Facebook, check out http://www.facebook.com/Croan.Cottages and be sure to ‘like’ our page to keep up to date with all that’s happening at Croan. We’ll also use Facebook to post details of some of the amazing festivals and events taking place in Kilkenny over the Summer months.
Summer is the peak season for festivals in the South East. The internationally renowned Kilkenny Arts Festival in August will bring the very best of music, visual arts, theatre and family events to the Medieval capital of Ireland, and local events such as the Graiguenamanagh Regatta and The Inistioge Summer Fest ensure there’s always something enticing going on.
We have some availability left for the Summer months, so join us for a break to remember!
Discounts for newsletter subscribers
As always we offer a 10% discount on all bookings for readers of our newsletters.
Simply use the code ‘sum2015’ when making a booking on our website to receive the discount.
Niamh and Francis
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Phone: +353 (056) 776 6868
email: info@croancottages.com
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