Grennan castle

A bright but distinctly cold start to the day.

We had a house viewing booked for late morning.  We had driven past it the previous day, as we weren't sure we would be able to find it, and already decided it was unlikely to be our choice, but felt we should at least take up the formal visit.

The house is brand new - in fact, it is not even finished, and is being sold "as is" - no internal woodwork (door frames, skirting etc), kitchen and bathrooms just empty spaces, underfloor heating fitted, but not connected to a source of heat.  The estate agent reckoned it would cost €50 to 80 thousand and take three months to finish, I reckon that's an underestimate.

Anyway, it was all just a bit more daunting than we could envisage.  But the agent was friendly, suggested another property on his books, though after looking at the brochure, I don't think it will suit us.

After leaving the property, we headed for Thomastown, but stopped off in Inistioge hoping to find a cafe for coffee and toilet facilities.  The Otter looked open, but when we went in, the landlord, Allan, said he wasn't actually due to open for another couple of hours.  But he let us use his toilet, and made drinks for us anyway.  And after chatting, and hearing that we were house hunting, waxed enthusiastic about a local Agent, insisting on noting down his name for us.  I didn't like to interrupt his flow to tell him that we had just come from meeting this very agent!

We left Allan awaiting his delivery, and stood in the rather pleasant sunshine admiring Inistioge.  It looks like a lovely village - we will be back, if not this visit, at some stage in the future.

We then drove on to Thomastown, where we parked up beside the river, and found a loop walk along the river bank and then up through some woodland.  After a pleasant 6km walk, we returned to The Toast for a late lunch.  W had soup again, it was my turn to overdo things and suffer some later indigestion, after enjoying a chilli burrito.  The puffin was no longer on the bar, it had been moved into the window.  

Subsequently, we drove back to our cottage enjoying some lovely late afternoon light.  And, with permission from our hosts, we hooked the car up to the power supply overnight.

PS. Just realised this castle is actually called Grennan Castle, rather than Thomastown castle, and have edited the title.