Ireland 2019: Irish National Stud & Dromoland Castle Hotel

It's a little sad that the tour is coming to an end, but we were super excited about spending the night in a real castle! But first we traveled by tour bus to the Irish National Stud. This is where the "equine royalty" of stud horses live as well as where young aspiring stud horses also live. We had a fascinating tour telling us about the stud program and introducing us to the horses as we walked in the farm. It is a beautiful place to tour and very informative! Another intriguing part of the farm is St. Fiachra's Garden and the miniature Japanese Garden. We spent a good amount of time here marveling at all of the little details of the Japanese Garden. We ate a quick lunch there before boarding the bus for Dromoland Castle. The present castle was completed in 1835, but it was purchased and converted into a 5 star hotel in 1962. I was stunned when we drove up. There was a storm moving in so we quickly took some pictures of the exterior and hiked on the surrounding grounds. When the rain started, I took advantage of their beautiful spa for a massage and then joined Travis and Danny for a pre-dinner glass of wine in a room equivalent to a "drawing room". Our dinner was quite a fancy event in the castle at their Michelin starred restaurant, Earl of Thomond. It was so delicious and one of our touring party, Sandy's mother, crocheted crowns for all of the ladies to wear. This was a fabulous way to end the tour and I'm not sure we would have ever done this had we not been on the tour. Tomorrow we head home and this is a trip we will always remember!