Holidays

Well that was a surprise! We were just feeling in need of a holiday when we discovered we had been treated to four days away at a luxury spa hotel. Totally out of the blue and so we set off :-) The only slight down side was that there would be no letterboxes anywhere near, just when I have been bitten by the Boxing Buddy bug again. Nevertheless Fireball jumped into the car with us - he wasn't going to miss out, letterboxes or no letterboxes!

The hotel is only an hour and a half away, but in a totally different country. As you know we now live in The Republic of Ireland. Our hotel is in the United Kingdom - Northern Ireland. As I said only an hour and a half away but a whole different world lol. There are no physical borders, just as there are no physical borders on the mainland of the UK. I am used to crossing from England to Wales, or England to Scotland, and that doesn't feel different, it is all the United Kingdom. Here in Ireland it is the same physically, but as soon as you cross the invisible border you are in a seperate country and you can see the changes. The obvious one being the letterboxes go from the classic Irish green to the classic British Red - and I am talking about Post Boxes here, not our beloved hobby ;-) Currency changes too, Euros for the Republic of Ireland, Stirling for Northern Ireland. It must be crazy for the people who live on the border. Imagine going to your local grocer and paying in one currency, then going to get petrol and paying in the other currency! 

Slieve Donard Hotel

The hotel looked fabulous. It was built in the Victorian era and had been one of those grand railway hotels. It was built overlooking the bay and had stunning views of both the sea and the mountains. When the railways started to decline the grand hotels were sadly sold off, there were just six in Northern Ireland and at the time all six were sold for only one million pounds! 

Slieve Donard 'Where the Mountains of Mourne Meet the Sea'. There are panoramic views from all the windows. In one direction there is the sea, and in the other direction there are views of the mountains, Slieve Donard Mountain in particular. It looked especially dramatic because there were big black clouds hanging over the tops of the mountains. Photos of mountain views never come out like the real thing, but here goes:-

Slieve Donard Mountain

At the bottom of the drive is the old railway station. It looks lovely from the hotel. It has a clock tower and a green spire.

The Old Railway Station

There is a brief history of the station and this is what it looked like originally :-

I thought it would be lovely to take a photo of it as it is now so walked down to the front of it. Alas, the horror, it has been turned into a supermarket - and one of the cheaper ones too!! The poor building, what ignominy :-(

The Travesty

Slieve Donard Mountain

Sculpture by Paddy Campbell