Today was our last full day in the cottage and we spent most of it at Kylemore Abbey.
This has been a wedding present, famine relief work, a money pit, a royal hunt lodge, a convent and girls school. The nuns are still there but the sschool has now shut down as its getting too much for the nuns to cope with.
We did our now standard tour of the house and the tea room but spent a lot of time walking around the Victorian garden.
The original garden was left and became overgrown. one of the nuns started to restore it and now a team of students work alongside the full time staff to restore the huge garden.
What was really impressive was to see the class divide. Within the garden was both the Head gardener's house and the bothy for the garden staff. The Head gardener had this lovely house for himself and his family. It was bright and spacious with a beautiful view over the garden. The bothy was in behind the shed, with windows looking out onto an earth bank with 5 or 6 living in less space than the head gardener has for breakfast.
It was dry inside, but dark, cramped and the turf smoke really couldn't get out.
When we got back to the cottage we had another Rummikub session but I was strictly limited to a minute per turn by the other 2.
