Ireland Saturday 8 th April 2023 Kilrateera, Mount Shannon. Annie and Gregg's smallholding.

Here is the link with information  about  the cottage at Kilrateera in which we stayed this  Easter weekend

https://abnb.me/FYzPVduPUyb

Annie and Gregg Dinner showed us around their 5.5 acre smallholding

Their own standing stones overlooking Lough Derg with the  lovely Willow in the foreground 

Annie's poly tunnels  have been painstakingly filled in the 7 years since they arrived in Ireland from London, apricot and kiwi trees are two of the more unusual trees which have flourished 

Fairy glen walk in the woods nearby , thanks to local primary school children's efforts

 

Pretty stream on another path 

 Lough Derg,  where we were picked up by Annie on the pizza run, it is 29 miles long. 

We went to the Glor theatre in Ennis  in the evening with Annie and Gregg  to see Siomha Brock and her band, amazing smooth  jazz,  Latin,  neo soul, folk fusion, great voice , Siomha ( pronounced She -va ) is from Ennis herself . One to watch as is her support act Roise from Belfast 

https://glor.ie/events/siomha/ 

NB Annie and Gregg's youngest son Jack and our youngest son Sean met at University 18 years ago, share a deep  passion for  nature, and have remained steadfast friends since. Although we know Jack quite well, it's the first time we have met his parents Annie and Gregg . 

Gregg is an author, screen writer and  lecturer / mentor and Annie was the Head of Production for a London based TV production company  (remember Robot wars?) before they moved  to her home  country.  They were  both extremely hospitable, very  interesting and great company. 

Here is Gregg's web site link 

https://www.gregdinner.com/

He has a novel out in paperback based in Warsaw and is now  working on the next one.