County Tipperary

In between the Shuller visit and the Brunger visit, we made a quick trip to Thurles, Co. Tipperary, to visit Carina Pierse and William Smyth. Carina was our first landlady (Kilflynn), aunt of a client, and a good friend. William is her partner and has a wonderful wholesale nursery. Carina had a full day of sightseeing planned. We visited Holy Cross Abby.








Next stop was a great jam-making enterprise in a private home (sort of manor house- no pictures).

Then on to Farney Castle - the residents are Cyril and Margie Cullen. He is a renowned weaver/wool designer and ceramics artist. They gave us a wonderful tour.

  Farney Castle is the home, design studio and retail outlet of Irish International Designer, Cyril Cullen, and it is the only Round Tower in Ireland occupied as a family home. The first castle was built at Farney in 1185 and this would have been a timbered structure. The present round tower was built in 1495 by Thomas Butler, 7th Earl of Ormond,

We then went to visit William's nursery, which we thoroughly enjoyed, and then had dinner at their beautiful new house.

The next morning we drove to Cahir and toured a castle there, then drove home. A nice, but short, visit.