The Slow Food Movement

It's lunchtime at the seaside, so it must be fish and chips and what better place to indulge than the seafront at Bray, County Wicklow, as this line of hungry punters slowly wend their way to gastronomic nirvana!

Mother's Day

Today is Mother's Day here in Ireland and on a quick visit to beautiful Avoca, Co Wicklow yesterday we saw that Fitzgerald's, the famous pub from the BBC TV series "Ballykissangel", was still taking bookings for lunch today in their restaurant.

Happy Mother's Day!

Clancy's Bar

 We're in Bray, Co Wicklow today to continue our occasional series of attractive/unusual bars in Wicklow.  This is Clancy's traditional bar, a quiet refuge in the middle of town!

The Uke-Guitar Man

Back at the World's Best Bar - Harbour Bar, Bray, Co Wicklow - we are entertained by Will Harrison, looking like Jacques Brel and singing and playing his odd ukelelee-guitar - tuned like a guitar, sounds like a ukelelee.

World's Best Bar

The Lonely Planet Guide recently named The Harbour Bar, Bray, Co Wicklow as the world's best bar in the "Off The Beaten Track" category and we're glad to feature it again here because it's a great favourite of ours too!

An old world bar with nautical references, it has three distinct parts; the old main bar which has a traditional look and often has traditional music nights, the back lounge, a great location for indie bands and the conservatory area. There is also a beer garden located outside for smokers.

Blind Yackety

This is Blind Yackety, the multi-instrumental, multi-vocal and very unusual band playing at the much loved Harbour Bar, Bray, Co Wicklow last weekend.

Al-Fresco

It would have been nice to stroll around Mount Usher Gardens, Ashford, Co Wicklow after all the snow but they're not open in the winter, so this photo was shot through the window of their Avoca Garden Café which is open all year round although I'm not sure I'd take up their offer of al-fresco dining just at the moment!

McTime

Now a McDonalds outlet, the former Town Hall, originally a covered market house, was commissioned by the 11th Earl of Meath to look down the main street of Bray. Designed by Thomas Manly Deane and his assistant Guy Dawber (who later returned to England and ran a successful country house practice), the Town Hall is reminiscent of medieval market houses in England or Germany. The building was built in 1882-3.

The market house was closed  in the mid 1940s, but the Town Hall's other major role continues.  The upper floor, reached by a stone staircase at the east side and with an open timber roof and oak chimney-pieces with carved panels, was always intended to serve as Bray's council chamber, originally for meetings of the town commissioners and today for Bray Town Council - it is also regularly used for local functions.

In 1991, after major refurbishment, the ground floor was converted into a high-ceilinged restaurant, and in 1997 this was controversially taken over by McDonald's.

Today is Theme Day in the City Daily Photo community and this month's subject is Time.  To see how Time is interpreted around the world, you can click here to view thumbnails for all participants

Arthur's Day 2010

Today is Arthur's Day and we are ensconced in that famous Wicklow Town watering hole, The Leitrim Lounge, in order to raise a glass in his honour!

And just to quote the official word: "Established in 2009 during Guinness's 250-year anniversary, Arthur's Day is a series of events and celebrations taking place around the world to celebrate the life and legacy of Arthur Guinness and the much-loved Guinness® beer which Arthur brought to the world."

So that's the only excuse we need! Today, the worldwide celebrations commence at the appropriate hour, 17:59, i.e. right in the middle of cocktail hour, and looking around me in The Leitrim Lounge, everyone is treating the event very seriously indeed!  Now, for the cynical mind out there, it has absolutely nothing to do with the fact that the price of a pint of Guinness has been reduced, for the occasion, down to €2.50 - that is serious!

Man, It's Organic!

There's always a buzz in the air when you pass The Happy Pear, natural food market, in the seaside town of Greystones, Co Wicklow, weather permitting that is. 

Today, actually, a couple of weeks ago, we're serenaded by this jazz player as we down our wheatgrass shots and comtemplate their upcoming Happy Heart Program.

Below left is The Happy Pear's next door neighbour, A Caviston, fishmonger, delicatessen and café.

Gourmet Greystones

Now, why did I mention the hope of an Indian summer in yesterday's post?  The answer today was atypical of our Irish weather - haar on the coast and frequent showers for our visit to Gourmet Greystones, a celebration of the restaurants, cafes and gourmet food outlets in Greystones, Co Wicklow.

The programme consisted of cookery demonstrations from celebrity chefs outside Jeff Norman's Backstage@Bels restaurant, in the town centre, and food tastings at all the participating restaurants and, for the kids, Cookie Class at The Butlers's Pantry.  So, there was a big turnout for the event, but, we got slightly wet as we made our way down Church Road, sampling the gourmet delights and watching the demonstrations like the one above by chef Dinesh Chanda from Chakra by Jaipur Restaurant as he puts the finishing touches to his Spice Roasted Sea Bass.

Left, the A. Caviston, seafood cafe, deli and fish shop  crew dispense their Seafood Sensation, and, below, the little girl on the right looks more than a little apprehensive as she awaits her kebabs from the Chakra boys

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One Of A Kind IV

We've made our way back to Hunter's Hotel, Rathnew, Co Wicklow, following our brief interlude, yesterday, for City Daily Photo's Theme Day.

Now, in case this and previous posts appear to be of an advertising nature, we at Wicklow Daily Photo do not promote commercial enterprise per se but merely feature that which we find attractive and interesting and which, from time to time, takes our fancy (e.g. it's a good place to stop for a pint!)  So, to conclude our visit to the mythical Hunter's, we finish our garden stroll among the roses and the lilies!

What's this, I hear you say, these flowers are all out of season?  Well no, our visit was actually at the beginning of July - and now our photos are resurrected here today for your delectation!

One Of A Kind III

Back in Hunter's Hotel, Rathnew, Co Wicklow and it's time to check out the two acres of gardens, one of the 32 private gardens featured in the Wicklow Gardens Festival which runs from Easter to end of September.

Above and left is where we could have taken our afternoon tea instead of in the lounge, but that would have been at the expense of the interior photos featured in the last post!

I like this quieter and wilder area below, the River Walk, which stretches down to the River Vartry and Newrath Bridge.

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One Of A Kind II

The creaky floorboards, the old furniture, the ambience of a bygone age, all here at Hunters Hotel near Rathnew, Co Wicklow.  Did you know that the King and Queen of Sweden have been regular visitors over the last few years?  And was that Steven Spielberg spotted having lunch with Daniel Day Lewis, a nearby resident, not so long ago?  I don't know!  I wasn't there, but that's the type of establishment Hunter's is - very discreet!

So we content ourselves with a seat in the lounge, above, where we await our afternoon tea.  All around is deserted, the bar, left, and the lounge, below. Where is everyone? Answer is, it's a beautiful day and everyone is relaxing in the wonderful gardens!  And that's where we're heading, tomorrow!

One Of A Kind

Our next stop on the never ending tour is Hunter's Hotel, Newrath Bridge, Rathnew, Co Wicklow, a very special place and certainly one of a kind.  The oldest coaching inn in Ireland, Hunter's dates from the early 1700's and has been owned and run by the same family, the Gelletlies, since 1820.

We at Wicklow Daily Photo are not constrained by the need to publish only tourist friendly images, so, today we present above, the hotel sign at the front of the hotel, left, the arched entrance to the car park, yes, tall enough for the coaches (i.e. the horse-drawn variety), and below, the car park, albeit a very pretty car park!

Tomorrow we go inside.

Time For A Pint

A miserable, dank and rainy day in this neck of the woods and what else can you do except go to the pub! So, its off to the local, McDaniels, Brittas Bay, Co Wicklow and, of course, I forgot my camera - but there's always my trusty Samsung camera phone.... and Photoshop!

 

Very quiet here but what would you expect at this hour?

Green Day - Reprise

Maybe a nice little Chianti to wash down those organic fava beans!

Or maybe some lemonade!

The Macreddin Village Organic Market not only hosts the best local producers but also from further afield:

Green Day - Slight Return

BrookLodge & Wells Spa, Macreddin Village, Co Wicklow boasts the only Certified Organic restaurant in Ireland - The Strawberry Tree - but it also hosts the Macreddin Village Organic Market held on the first Sunday of each month from April to October. Stall holders come from all over for this very special market held in idyllic surroundings.

Sit back and enjoy the incredible sandwich of organically reared pork roasted on the spit while hens wander round the grounds feeding naturally from whatever they find.

Green Day

A few minutes from Aughrim we find the very green Brooklodge & Wells Spa, Macreddin Village, Co Wicklow. Here for the farmers' market but just missed a wedding at the chapel pictured left.  Below, the view from the little bridge: