The Chestnuts B&B

The Chestnuts B&B, originally uploaded by jawsmurphy.

I had heard the name Phylis used a bunch already on this trip. I was a little confused, until I realized that Phylis and John ran the B&B we would be staying at in Cashel. Apparently, my parents had stayed here on their first trip in 1995, and again when they visited Meg earlier this year. Naturally, my parents got to chatting with them, and they all became fast friends. My mom had sent over a scrapbook with Coll to give to Phylis, who apparently was having a hard time finding them anywhere near her...as she lives in the middle of the country.

We were greeted at the door by Phylis with warm hugs (as if greeting family). She showed us our rooms, and asked if we’d like some tea. We got our luggage settled, and headed to the sitting room. Phylis made her way in with tea, and eventually John joined us. We told stories and got acquainted, and enjoyed some delicious tea and raspberry scone/cake thingies. Mmmmmmmmmmmmmm.

John and Phylis had suggested that we go to a trad show later that night in town. Meg said that it was a very good show, so we made plans to hang out for a bit, get some dinner, and see the show. Jeff headed off for a much needed nap, and the girls all gathered in their room down the hall.

This was probably one of my favorite memories of the trip. The sights were gorgeous, the fun we had all together was awesome. But these moments alone, just the sisters, was very precious to me.

After a while, Jeff joined us. We eventually headed into town to get some dinner before the show. I was starving at this point. Especially when Meg told us about the place she was taking us to. We walked up to the cafe, and the door was locked. Even though there were people inside. Ordering. The front door was locked.

And it smelled so good.

Dejected, we headed back towards where the show would be. We tried the B&B/Restaurant next to the parking lot. No dice.

We headed to the theater, since they serve dinner before the show. They were done serving food, since it was getting close to show time. We decided to skip dinner and head to the bar and get a drink, then find some food after the show was over.

Which I’m glad we did. The show was amazing. It consisted of a series of traditional irish music and dancing and singing. It was phenomenal.


We did go to a fast food place after the show called ‘abrakebabra’. Which was edible, but ultimately made me feel pretty gross. Especially since we went straight to sleep afterwards.



Breakfast the next morning was, as Phylis would say, ‘lovely’. We ate with a family from the east coast, and chatted with them and Phylis and John. Who were damn entertaining in their own right. They do a pretty good two person show. Coming in and out of the kitchen to serve us tea and toast and eggs and sausage and bacon. (mmmmmmmmm)

At some point, John sits down to chat. Phylis joins us. Everyone is telling stories and having a good time.

Eventually, Phylis notices that we never got any yogurt. She rushes off to the kitchen, and makes a comment to John about forgetting the yogurt.

He responds that yes, he did forget the yogurt. He then goes back into telling stories.

About a minute later, Phylis opens the kitchen door to say, ‘I’ll just get the yogurt then’, and then closes the door again.

John doesn’t flinch.

They were pretty hysterical.

Posted by *erin* | 11:47 PM