It’s Sunday afternoon and we are exhausted after a very full Heritage Week. Thank you to Marita for minding Bumper for us while we headed off for our Progress around the country.

This year we made a circle from around Clogheen County Tipperary, driving through it to our first airbnb in County Waterford and ending up nearby at our last airbnb in Ardfinnan in County Tipperary. We visited ten Section 482 properties!

We would have visited 11 or 12 properties if all had been open at the dates and times posted. We wanted to visit Tybroughney Castle on our way down to Waterford, but the owner told me that he was going to play golf during his posted hours, and that we’d have to go early! It would have been too stressful to leave Dublin by 9am, having to leave the house in a presentable state for a houseguest, so I decided to visit Tybroughney another time. It’s annoying though when I am polite enough to contact an owner first to let them know we are planning to visit during their open hours, and they take the opportunity to say they won’t be open! I shall let Revenue know about him not being open during listed times.

On our first day we went to the lovely Cappagh in County Waterford, then on to Curraghmore. We’d been there before, on one of our first Section 482 jaunts back in 2019, and had to go back again to take in more detail.

The next day we drove to our next accommodation – we treated ourselves to two nights in Bantry House.

It rained every day in July so we were really lucky with the weather this week. On our drive across Cork to Bantry we stopped to visit Kilcascan Castle. It’s quite off the beaten track and is a work-in-progress so there’s not a lot to see but I was happy to visit.

Next day we meandered down to Baltimore to visit Baltimore Castle, where we had a great chat with the owner, who completely renovated the tower house. It’s fascinating, especially the research his wife has done on the kidnapping by pirates of the villagers – more on that when I write up about the Castle.

It was at this stage, the next day, that my carefully laid plans, with routes carefully written out (since google tries to lead one to a place as the crow flies and loves to send one off down narrow boreens), started to break down. I received an email from Longcourt Houte Hotel in County Limerick that they could no longer accommodate us the next day, and they cancelled my room reservation! I have since learned that a pipe had burst.

I’d never heard the like, a hotel cancelling a booking the day before one is due to arrive. So that evening while in our room in Bantry House, I had to scour online to find somewhere else to stay for the next two nights. Most places were booked out. We found some rooms in the Radisson Blu in Cork City and decided to go there, as there are several Section 482 properties in County Cork that I have yet to visit.

So I sadly contacted John of Rathkeale rectory and explained that I’ll have to postpone our visit.

We headed to Little Island in Cork. We did, however, stop to visit the two places I’d planned to visit on the drive to Newcastle West in Limerick: we drove to Drishane Castle in Millstreet, County Cork, then on to Burton Park.

Drishane Castle now operates as a direct provision centre for refugees. I tried to contact the owner to alert him to our visit, but I received no reply to either text nor email. There are opening hours posted on the gate, and the man at reception seemed to understand that we were there to see the old house, but we felt bad walking around the halls and didn’t know where to find the reception rooms, and we retreated outside after going down just one hallway. This property really should not be Section 482, since it’s not fair to either section 482 visitors or to the refugees who make it their home.

I could say the same about Burton Park, where we wandered into the house and explored without meeting the owner or manager, but at least Jesse was welcoming when I contacted her about our visit. It’s a lovely old house and I’m glad it is being maintained, but there’s not a lot to see. The house is now a centre for Slí Eile, a residential centre where people with mental health issues can come to rebuild their lives, and they run an organic farm. It’s certainly a beautiful place to stay – more when I do the write-up!

The next day we found ourselves with an unexpected day in Cork, so I rang the owner of Brideweir House to ask if we could visit. Despite it being Heritage Week, and listed as open, the owner said that no, today wouldn’t suit her, as she was going to get her hair cut! I reminded her that it is a listed open day. She said, “Yes, but I have a life!”

I wish I’d thought to reply “And I pay taxes.” My taxes pay for her home renovations! I’ll definitely be reporting her to Revenue, to report that she was not open.

We revisited Fota House instead. A guaranteed lovely day out! Despite the weather – Storm Betty came to County Cork with a vengeance, and we were drenched while we explored the walled garden. I thought we could visit the house for free with our Georgian Society membership – and it was a toss up whether we’d visit Doneraile or Fota, as I thought that both are free with Georgian Society membership, but we were closer to Fota. But Georgian Society members, read your benefits carefully! It is only access to the gardens of Fota that is free with membership – which is free to the public anyway. We had to pay in to the house. But it’s a great tour.

The next day we headed to our next accommodation, this one near Ardfinnan in Tipperary. We had not had time to visit Ballynatray when we’d been staying near Lismore in Waterford, so we decided to take a detour to visit. I was aware that the magnificent house is not Section 482, it’s just the garden. The weather had cleared – we were so lucky!

Ballynatray is another property, it turns out, that makes a mockery of Section 482 and visitors. We were told on the website to park “nearby” at Templemichael car park. It took us 45 minutes to walk to the garden! The house has an enormous demesne and it’s very stingy that the owners won’t let one park nearer the gardens. Fortunately the sun had returned and we enjoyed the walk as well as the detour on the property to Molana Abbey ruin.

The garden, as far as we could see, was just a few picturesque terraces of grass, with walls and some urns. So I’m afraid it’s “come to my property and marvel at the house we won’t show you, park fifteen minutes away and walk a further half hour to see my grass.” So we aren’t benefitting from giving our hard-earned tax euros to those owners either. Sorry to sound churlish. But really, not allowing us to park at the property is a bit much, considering how many beautiful rolling acres they have. We are really made to feel plebeian.

We had an appointment then to visit Philippa at Grenane House. We enjoyed our visit and she gives a wonderful tour. There’s a more inclusive tour one can do, visiting three houses and being given snacks and a light lunch, but it was beyond our budget, unfortunately: https://hfhtours.ie/

The prices are:

Three house tour €750 for up to and including 10 people and €75 per person thereafter.
Single house tour is €200 for up to 5 people, and €25 per person thereafter.

The other two houses included on that tour are Castlegarde, which I’d love to see, and another property that benefits from our tax euros, Lismacue.

Lismacue is Section 482 but is listed as “tourist accommodation” so does not have to open to the public. However, it is only available for accommodation if you rent the entire house. I hate that the Section 482 laws have been so badly designed that a house can list as accommodation whereas it’s only available as a whole house for accommodation which means it is way beyond a regular person’s means. We do not get to benefit, again, from our taxes, and are never able to see the house. Unless we have €750 to spend on a tour!

Churlish again! I must be tired!

Our last day, we visited Clashleigh House in Clogheen, County Tipperary. A beautiful house, it was used for some years as a rectory. We visited in the morning, so had time to drive down to Lismore in the afternoon to see the idyllic Lismore Castle gardens.