Ashford Castle

And they can stay, you know, switch off, relax, get out of the hospital environment.

you know be around carers and people who you know aren't doctors or nurses or talking about something as serious as cancer for just you know it could even be a short period of time but it's more a relief and a relaxing environment and try and make their lives as normal as possible as they can for that period and I think the whole concept the idea of it it's a fantastic cause and The work has been going on over the last few years, very close to Ashford Castle and Mayo, and they're aiming for a spring 2027 opening.

And to be able to walk in there on day nine of this week is something everybody is very much looking forward to.

You got involved, didn't you, with yourself and your business in this charity a couple of years ago?

And from the initial contact and introductions, I knew instinctively I was in the company of two very nice people, and with an air of relief, I looked forward to the week ahead.

I loaded our luggage into the car, and we headed west out of the city onto the Galway Road for our first overnight destination, which was to be Ashford Castle.

As lunchtime approached, we were still about an hour out from Galway City.

I suggested to the Murphy's, a lovely seafood restaurant, Moran's on the Weir, just outside Claremont Bridge, for them to have lunch.

He was inside finalising the bill.

I pulled him aside and broke the news to him and told him Moran was out in the car and very upset and concerned about the safety of their son.

We went back out of the car to join her and we decided to head directly to Ashford Castle.

As their concerns grew they mentioned their son's wife at home in New York and I offered the use of my cell phone to make contact with her.

I would love to see a local Gaelic football match in Ireland because they actually love AFL over there.

When I was over at Ashford Castle in Ireland middle of this year, one of the ladies serving Guinness, young lady who plays Gaelic football for the local team there, three of her friends were out here playing for AFLW.

It's a big pathway now.

They actually look forward to the opportunity to come out to Australia to play AFLW.

I got there just as a group of golfers were disembarking a bus with blacked out windows and checking in.

Inside, it's not as kind of grand or statement-y an arrival as Eder Manor or Ashford Castle, but you are aware that you're entering a five-star resort.

It's on the coast.

It looks quite windswept, looks quite spectacular, but it is isolated.

So that would put it just below the likes of the off-peak rates at Cashel Palace at Mount Juliet.

It's half the price of Adair Manor.

And, you know, above it also would be sort of the likes of Drummond and Ashford Castle.

So that's where you're coming in on in terms of prices.

And of course, we don't have that license to bring any back with us, but I really thought about it.

On the last podcast, we left off at Ashford Castle, which is where you want to go back.

Yes, I will stay there.

We left our Airbnb in Galway and then went out, drove north of the Sligo area.

Or you can take a car out separately on your own.

And typically then, like the user of this service would be maybe an American couple that have come to Ireland and they want to go to Ashford Castle and Dremolin Castle in a vintage Bentley, which you'll provide.

So we would predominantly get the Americans into an automatic car.

for starters and it would be a Mercedes and SL is what I steer them into and they would head off on the wild Atlantic we'd drop the car into the Merion the you know the Shelburne or Fitzwilliam and off they go down to their five star experience on the wild Atlantic So there's a lot of that going on, a lot of tourism, but it's not the biggest part of our business.

Great village for good food.

And next door to Ashford Castle.

Oh, very good.

So we're going to head that direction now.

That's why we got the land we did out in Cunnamara.

But Conch, it's a lovely village, very historical.

You have Ashford Castle there.

You pass the walls of Ashford Castle.

Authority.

True or false? The new season of The Traitors Ireland has moved to Ashford Castle.

True.

In which country would you find the Bundesliga?

Geppetto's Carpenter appears in, sorry, Geppetto the Carpenter appears in what classic Disney film? It is Pinocchio.

How many seconds do you get to come up with a word on Countdown? 30 seconds is correct.

True or false, the new season of The Traitors Ireland, which is on this Sunday night on RTE, it has not moved to Ashford Castle.

It's still in Slane.