My friend Bee arrived yesterday! I’m happy to see her – I have lots of explorations planned for us in the next four weeks. I was pleased to introduce Bee to our “home” at Fruit Hill Self-Catering Cottages near Campile, Ireland. I’ve already been here for fifteen days and the longer I’m here the more I love it. There’s a delightful, old-fashioned air to the place that exactly fits my image of Ireland. Deep in the countryside, on a farm that’s hundreds of years old, the four homes that comprise the Fruit Hill property have served generations of Irish families.

Susan and Dick’s family has lived at Fruit Hill since 1995. Their six children, now teens and young adults, have grown up here. Three of the houses are self-catering cottages (vacations rentals). The fourth, the “big house,” was derelict when Dick and Susan came here – a tree was growing through the roof! After 18 months of absolutely necessary repairs they and their kids moved in. Work of restoring the house hasn’t stopped but they have created a beautiful and comfortable home.

Situated at the end of a lane off a typical narrow Irish country road, Fruit Hill is located near the village of Campile, about ten miles from the 800-year-old town of New Ross. This is Kennedy country: the graves of the president’s ancestors fill a nearby churchyard and their old home farm has become quite a tourist attraction.

I’ve tried to create a slideshow to give you a feeling for how relaxing and welcoming Fruit Hill has been for me. It’s the perfect place for a springtime visit to Ireland. I’ve had difficulty making the slideshow work. If I click on a picture it opens the slideshow but the images are blurry. Try it if you like or simply look at the parade of images that follows.

Libbie