Saturday, October 17, 2020

#6 What is the difference between a Pub, Inn and Tavern in Ireland?


 




 

What is the difference between a Pub, Inn, and Tavern in Ireland?

          The moment we stepped off the plane in Dublin we were bombarded with ads for Pubs, Inns, and Taverns. Both of us scratched our heads and wondered what the difference was. After all, they all served alcoholic drinks.


          After a few days, we figured it out. All of them serve alcoholic drinks and soft drinks, but the difference was:

A TAVERN serves food as well as alcohol. They are also a place to do business, friends meet for a meal or drinks, and families have lunch or dinner there.

A PUB (short for Public House) serves alcoholic drinks and soft drinks only. Food is seldom served (usually snacks) and children are not permitted.

AN INN serves food, alcoholic drinks and soft drinks plus has lodgings. It is a place to stay overnight, hold meetings, do business and families are welcome for all meals.

          After visiting all three we were able to figure out what scenes were most appropriately set in a pub, an inn, or tavern for our book, STONE PUB.

Tuesday, October 13, 2020

#5 The Mansion

 

The Mansion

As we began our novel we used the internet to search for the perfect mansion and estate to stand in as Lyonsmaine Estate, the ancestral home of our protagonist.



 In our book, the estate is located in the, now, Republic of Ireland. In our research, we happened across Kilmahon House, in County Cork. It was built in 1780.



The three-story house is situated behind a stone wall. The Celtic Sea can be seen from the top floors. The grounds around the house are beautifully landscaped.

The video below gave us a tour of the house making it easy to move our characters around the mansion and the estate grounds. This worked perfectly.

 

The Kilmahon House tour can be found below:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7afpTaguDas

Sunday, October 4, 2020

#4 Ballingeary, county Cork Church


 

Ballingeary, County Cork Church

          While at Gougane Barra in Ballingeary, County Cork, we had lunch at the hotel. The hotel restaurant was quaint and the food amazingly good. The lake behind the hotel was lovely. Since it was cold and sunny we decided to go for a walk. We came across a small stone church on the side of the lake that held maybe thirty people. Its history dates back to 623AD!

          This is where we came up with the idea of the church on the Lyonsmaine estate in our book and its role in the mystery.



          As we traveled around Ireland we found churches dotted throughout the countryside that has the most amazing histories.  In the Republic of Ireland, we found numerous abandoned stone churches.  Many of these small churches held, at the most, twenty or thirty worshippers. Though abandoned, many still had intact stained glass windows.

In the Republic of Ireland (south) we were surprised to find so many empty or abandoned Anglican churches on the outskirts of towns. Yet the Catholic Churches were old, and huge with incredible histories. Even the small towns, hamlets, had good size Catholic churches.

          When we traveled to Northern Ireland, the Anglican Churches were everywhere, while the Catholic churches were small, some abandoned.

          It is amazing how the various places we visited spark our imagination.