Some pics from our trip to the island below. Ben and I suffered from some serious reverso lens envy – he was mad for my 100mm Macro (and has some beautiful shots to prove it), while I kept borrowing his super wide 20mm. Because of that, and some low battery issues, there was a lot of camera and lens swapping, and a high chance that some of these photos were taken by him!

Garnish Island, by the way, is incredibly pretty and boasts some gorgeous tropical gardens, a Martello tower, an amazing view, and  plenty of seals lounging on the rocks around it.

As lots of you know (mainly because I wouldn’t stop talking about it), I recently spent a weekend in Rome with Ben.

I was prepared for pretty cobbled streets, delicious food, and old, majestic-looking ruins. And while Rome delivered on all of those things, what really surprised me was the light. It was stunning. Maybe it’s because it bounces off tall, creamy-coloured buildings, or is dappled through trees and ivy, but it was just GORGEOUS. Soft, diffused, beautiful.

Some pics below, many more to come.

Check out the teeny little worm on those mushrooms!

If I were the marrying kind, I’d definitely make it my business to take a stroll through gardens like these on D-day.

And that’s it! I hope you enjoyed this little tour around Kylemore, it really is a beautiful place. Have a great weekend.

Handmade soaps and chocolates:

Tomorrow: My absolute favorite bit, the gardens.

How gorgeous is that wallpaper?

Tomorrow: The pottery studio

A few weeks ago I was lucky enough to be taken off on a girly break to Kylemore Abbey, Connemara. Originally built as a gift from Mitchell Henry to his wife Margaret (swoon) in c.1867, the story of the building, the tear-jerking twists it takes and the various uses it has had (its last being a boarding school run by Benedictine nuns) is genuinely fascinating, and you can read all about it here.

More recently, it has been revamped as a tourist destination. You can visit and explore the the Abbey itself, the Gothic Church, the Victorian Walled Gardens, the Craft Shop, Pottery studio, Restaurant and Tea Rooms as well as some very pretty lake and woodland walks. We pretty much did all of the above, and I hope to post some pics from the trip here over the next couple of days.

Today, I think I’ll start with a shot of the Abbey itself:

I’m amazed it hasn’t been snapped up as a movie set. In fact, I visited Kylemore around the time I was reading Kazuo Ishiguro’s dark and moving Never Let Me Go, and it kind of reminded of Hailsham, the school the novel is set in. (On another side note, the movie adaptation of the book is out in January and looks amazing. Trailer here.)

Suitably chilled? Good, let’s move on, to a shot of tasty, fresh baked scones and warm knitted jackets from the gift shop.

Tomorrow: Inside the abbey.

Friday
Eat: Wahaca. Some of the nicest Mexican food I’d had in a long, long time (sorry Pablo, I still love you though). The pork tacos were amazing, as were the cocktails and dessert.

Play: We ticked a big box on my wishlist by heading to Her Majesty’s Theatre to see The Phantom of the Opera. It was an amazing experience, complete with champagne and chocolates (thanks Yvonne!).
After that, we met up with my friend Steve for a few quick cocktails before heading out to Propganda for some dancing. The night (which runs in Dublin as well, at The Academy) provides a brilliant mix of danceable indie pop tunes, which kept us on the floor all night and helped work off some of that Mexican food.
Sleep: We stayed at the Strand Palace Hotel at Covent Garden. It was central, relatively cheap, clean and had hot showers – that’s pretty much all we were after and we got it. The staff were friendly and there was also free WiFi in the bar which came in handy.

Sturday
Eat: Headed to Cecconi’s in Mayfair for a “power breakfast” with another London friend. It’s a popular trader hot spot and we felt very Wall Street-y. Well, I would have if I wasn’t wearing ballerina flats.
Play: Once we were fuelled up, it was time for a mega shopping sesh where I picked up this little lady, followed by champagne and macaroons in Harrods (I told you this was a girly weekend).
A prep sesh in the hotel and it was off to Shoreditch for tapas and sangria at Amberjack’s in Hoxton Sq. They were delish and highly recommended. We popped into Zigfrid Von Underbelly and Electricity Showrooms, before heading back back closer to home for some cheesy dancing and mojitos at Dirty Martini. To be honest, I wasn’t mad on Shoreditch – too much laid-back cool and not enough fun cheesiness, although I did really like Cocomo (no website sadly), a tiny little Moroccan bar with very nice Mojitos.

Sunday
Eat and Play: Headed to the lovely Columbia Road, my favorite spot in all of London. I picked up a nice book in Rob Ryan‘s amazing shop (the only piece of his work I could afford really), had a big dirty rasher and relish roll from a local stand and bought this very nice lunch box which is now very far up on my Favourite Things list. I could have stayed and browsed and shopped all day, but we had a flight to be catching.

That’s it! Couple more shots below.

When you’re next in London, I’d heartily recommend a trip to most of the places I’ve linked to. Do let me know how you get on…