Day TRIP July 2019 Mullingar / Tullynally Castle

 
 
3rd July 2019. 33 members of Ballinasloe Active retirement set off on a day trip to the pewter factory Mullingar. The ancient craft was revived in Ireland by Mullingar pewter in 1974 by Paddy Collins and his son Peter and employs 16 people from the local area who are specially trained in the old castings methods. We arrived at the workshop to see the skill of casting, moulding, turning, filing, and polishing, meticulous assembly and delicate hand finishing of the pewter pieces by the skilled artisons .Pewter is sold throughout stores in Ireland and abroad .We visited the gift shop which displayed a extensive range of pewter products and gifts for all occasions .We all enjoyed browsing and did not come away empty handed                                                                                                         We then traveled through the beautiful landscape of Westmeath in glorious sunshine to Tullynally Castle 18 century gothic castle where we enjoyed soup/ brown bread, apple tart tea/coffee.We sat in in the courtyard enjoying the sunshine before we entered the Castle for a guided tour by Bartle our guide who gave us a wonderful history of the Pakenham family and the castle and had us laughing throughout the tour.It was a wonderful tour.The Pakenham family Thomas and his wife resides there. We visited the gardens by our tour guide Octavia and took in the beautiful scenery, plants, trees, and flowers along the way, and the tibetan garden which was designed by Thomas Pakenham  over many years. We had a beautiful dinner in Tyrellspass before we set off for home. We all enjoyed the wonderful day.
 
Report  from  Phil  Kelly