Monday, May 13, 2019

Fairytale Places in Ireland | Ballysaggartmore Towers, Co. Waterford ♥

Yesterday we went on another little road trip, back down Lismore way to the beautiful Ballysaggart Towers - just a few minutes away from Lismore town centre.

It took us an hour to drive to Lismore from Cork so it wasn't a very long car journey at all and was well worth it! We always let the kids have a break in the playground in Lismore because it's fab and has plenty of space for them to runaround and have fun before enjoying our days out.


I shared the towers on my Instastories and received DMs, comments and even an email inquiring about them, so I thought I'd share about our visit on here too, just in case anyone else is looking for somewhere stunning and family friendly to go on a daytrip.

I had never heard of the Towers until I saw a picture of them on the Lismore Castle Instagram gallery and I was immediately wanting to go and visit. As someone who loves taking pictures, especially outdoors, I'm always on the look out for beautiful places of interest to take some snaps - these places are always the perfect backgrounds for our captures.

When I read up on the Towers some more and saw that they were part of a loop walk through a woodland, I knew that they'd be a great place to take the kids, allow them to run free and maybe have a little picnic along the way.

The woodland surrounding the Tower loop is quite hilly, filled with streams and rhododendrons. There were even little valleys of rhododendrons and it was such a beautiful place.


Before getting to see a view of the towers you have to pass through a little tunnel - I likened this a railway tunnel for the kids. You can also climb and sit on top of this and it really is a beautiful entrance to the tower area.

The entrance to the towers is so beautiful, as is the area around them. The act as a bridge over a little stream, with water coming from a nearby waterfall. You can sit down by the stream for a picnic or just to enjoy the scenery and it's such a peaceful, gorgeous place to sit.

You can climb up to the top of the waterfall, which is such a lovely place, the trickling of the water down the stream is so peaceful. Jacek and Tyler were brave enough to go to the top, I had to stay and enjoy the view down to the towers with Beau, who's the most cautious (or maybe sensible!) member of our family.

Walking through the towers really is like something from a real-life fairytale. You can just imagine the history that they've been part of and witnessed and it's quite humbling.

You can pass freely through the Towers, go into it's little rooms and explore to your hearts content - I love places like this with no restrictions for the kids to have fun and for myself and Jacek to photograph.

Had we had a towel with us I would have let the kids paddle in the little stream as there are grassy areas by it - one with a patch of beautiful bluebells.

The Towers are part of a castle that was never built because the owner ran out of money. Considering he was a horrible man who treated his tenants and everyone around him horrifically, I think it's fair to say that he got his just desserts - how great that we can all enjoy the beauty of these towers that he left behind though.

You can find out more about the history of Ballysaggartmore Towers here.

 At the end of the loop walk is a gate lodge - again completely open and free for you to explore to your hearts content. My boys loved the windows and were pretending to be a drive-thru - not what the builder intended I'm sure! The gate lodge is adorned with Crusader type crosses and it all looks very grand.

If you're looking to share a little bit of fairy tale magic with the kids on an outing then Ballysaggartmore Towers is just the place you're looking for. Pack and picnic and make the most out of the beautiful scenery.


I'm not sure where our next adventure will be but Co. Waterford has given us some great days out as of late so I'm sure we'll be back soon.

If you're nearby and fancy checking out Lismore Castle Gardens, which are like a real life fairytale castle too, read my post to have a sneak peek at home beautiful they are.


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2 comments

  1. If you are down Waterford way again, you should visit Crough Wood. Its a beautiful, magical woodland walk near Mahon Falls, very picturesque, so lots of photo ops.Plenty to keep the kids busy for a couple of hours, lots of meandering pathways and definitely bring the towel for paddling.

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  2. what a beautiful location!

    ReplyDelete

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