A Magically Irish Day

Charlotte:

Yesterday I went with Grandma to this fairy garden called Gillighan’s World. It was really pretty and nice. There was a scavenger hunt that was really fun. I got all of them right except for one. For doing so well on the quiz, I got candy mushrooms – they were delicious!

One of the special things I saw were gnome houses and a real live fairy. Guess how I found it…

I was doing ballet in their ballet class. It’s in the fairy ring, and then I was dancing and I saw a head, a face, hair, and wings and it was flying. At first I thought it was just a butterfly, but then I saw the dress, and I knew it was a real live fairy!

I also liked Gillighan’s house because it was really tiny. They warned us that it could be messy because Gillighan is sometimes messy, but it was really tidy.

I also found chickens. I pet them and they were so, so fluffy. When we met the ducks, they went in the pond and swam away.

In the gift shop, there were so many beautiful fairies and stuff, and I got a fairy wish jar. It says the wishes actually come true. And this is how you do it: write down a wish on paper, put it in the jar, close your eyes and don’t peek, and then fairies will come and make the wish come true. If you look, it won’t come true. My grandma bought it for me. It was very nice and I’m so thankful.

Sam:

It was the last day that we were staying in our house. When I woke up we went to a place called Gillighan’s World. Gillighan is a leprechaun.

When we got there, we got to do a scavenger hunt and we got to walk through a forest looking for all the items.

We went up to the top of the mountain to see the views and there was a wishing circle called a fairy ring.

When we got back, I had 9 out of 13 questions right. Then we got some food and I got a souvenir from the gift shop. I got a statue of a dragon from Grandma.

We went to dinner in Sligo. The restaurant was called Fiddlers’ Creek. I had fish goujons and chips. For dessert, I had a Snickers cake.

Afterwards, we went home and started packing for our train ride to Belfast tomorrow. Hopefully the train’s not slow!

Mom and Dad:

After a morning spent relaxing at the house, we left at around 2pm to visit Gillighan’s World, about a half hour drive away, in the middle of nowhere.

We entered through a tiny ivy-covered doorway in a stone wall and were greeted by a lovely man who runs the gardens. He brought us to the cafe area and told us about all of the sections of the park. He was very helpful and extremely knowledgeable about Celtic mythology. He took the time to explain a scavenger hunt activity for each of the kids, too.

We set of towards the fairy gardens, stopping to attempt to pet the chickens roaming around. Sam was able to get close enough to pat a silver-feathered chicken named Gertrude. Charlotte was unable to catch one, and in typical Charlotte fashion, blamed Sam for scaring them away from her.

We found Gillighan’s, the leprechaun’s, house near the entrance of the gardens. It was an adorable old dwelling with everything in miniature.

Next, we started along the path through the gardens. It was surprisingly beautiful, with lush forested areas, a large pond, several bridges, and little fairy displays everywhere. It was definitely a magical place that fascinated all of us.

We took a break at a sandy playground at the top of the gardens before continuing to the fairy ring at the base of Mount Knocknashee. When we climbed to the top, the view was stunning and the kids had a castle to climb to get an even better view.

The fairy ring was in a beautiful grassy and clover-filled field. As we had been told, we each took a turn entering the fairy ring quietly, standing in the middle, closing our eyes, making a wish, and then turning three times in a circle with our eyes closed. If we were facing the mountain when we opened our eyes, our wish is supposed to come true.

The kids looked for four-leaf clovers for awhile. Charlotte thought she found one, and called out, “Grandma! I found a four-leaf clover… but only… one of the leaves is missing.” We all got a great laugh about that.

Brad and Sam continued back through the gardens to complete Sam’s scavenger hunt, while Grandma, Charlotte and I stayed up at the fairy ring for a bit longer because Charlotte was dancing in the fairy ring with real fairies. She was so excited because the fairies weren’t afraid of her and kept fluttering around her. Eventually we, too, went back through the gardens to find a few more items on the scavenger hunt list, and then went back to the cafe for a snack.

The owner met us there, caught a chicken for Charlotte to pet, and then sat down with us to go over the kids’ answers while we dined on tea and scones (Grandma and I), juice and sweets (kids), and a sausage roll (Brad). He praised the kids for their correct answers and told them what mistakes they made. Then he brought them candy mushrooms for working so hard.

We finished our visit by going into the gift shop and purchasing some fairies and fairy doors for our own gardens, as well as a few gifts for others. Sam got a great little dragon from Grandma, and Charlotte chose a fairy wishing jar.

On our way out, we paused at the rescue pet area to meet some guinea pigs and a rabbit. They took the kids right into the pen to play with them.

We spent our last evening in the area in Sligo town. We had dinner at a pub called Fiddlers’ Creek along the river. Great food! Grandma’s “Eton mess” was our favourite dessert tonight.