#CountryKids Jerpoint Abbey, Thomastown, Inistioge and New Ross

Another day of balancing the pleasure of 3 generations on holiday. My son was not impressed with the fact that we started off at Jerpoint Abbey (using our English Heritage cards):

I think the lovely folks on the reception desk could see his lack of enthusiasm and so explained about their children's trail. He still had dragging feet as we started off out hunting for items in the carvings such as what a saint was holding or deciding which number a certain saint was in the line up:

With the Abbey in ruins without the trail there isn't that much to hold the interest of a younger child:

As the trail got harder, and we discovered other families doing it, my son got more enthusiastic! Some bits were so hard to spot we found ourselves working with other family to find the little bits of carving that were on the quiz:

With his prize of postcards and a poster we headed on to Thomastown and after finding a place to park we refreshed ourselves at The Truffle Fairy (if you are ever in the area the chocolate is divine!): 

My dad then went for an explore whilst my son and I headed off towards the park we had spotted whilst trying to find a parking space...There were a few interesting things that caught our attention on the way:

The playground was pretty amazing although some of the equipment needed repair. It was virtually all made of wood and was a lovely spot to spend some time:

One thing I noticed a fair amount of whilst travelling around were poo bags for dogs and not as much poo as at home. They came with a fabulous graphic to illustrate why you should "Bin the Poo" (which as a family we are unfortunately well aware of):

We found a spot for a picnic lunch at Inistioge close to its fabulous bridge over the River Nore:

Our final destination for the day was New Ross which is where JFK made a speech in 1963:

There is now a recreated platform where you can pretend you are JFK and read his speech:

We had travelled to New Ross after the recommendation of our accommodation to see the Dunbrody Famine Ship:

This is a full sized replica of a ship that was built in 1845. Designed as a cargo vessel the Dunbrody’s main cargos where timber from Canada, cotton from the southern states of the U.S.A. and guano from Peru. However from 1845 to 1851 she carried thousands of emigrants fleeing the potato famine and seeking a new life in the USA or Canada. 

We had a guided tour which explained the reasons why people were leaving and then took us aboard the ship where we could see some of what it was like for the passengers on board. Our tickets named genuine passengers from one of the voyages in the 1840s:

A couple of actresses came and spoke to us to give more of an idea of the realities of life as an Irish emigrant: 

The tragic thing was that the woman she was portraying died on the voyage along with her husband and no-one knows what happened to the 6 children that were orphaned:

I do hope that the man on my ticket went on to do well in his new life:

The first class passengers had a much more comfortable voyage with better food and sleeping conditions but they paid an awful lot for the privilege.

On the shore there is the Emigrant Flame which was lit in 2013 from a flame brought over from JFK's grave in Arlington cemetery. It is there as a beacon of hope for all Irish emigrants and their descendants: