I know I have been a little quiet in the blogosphere recently and that is because I took a little holiday with my boyfriend to Ireland to visit family and explore a little more of the Emerald Isle.  So I will apologise now if this post is a little long and photo heavy but I thought I'd just share a little of what I got up to on my little break.

I hate flying so I had a super anxious morning waiting to get on the plane and as we were up at 3am to head for the airport, we spent the first couple of days relaxing and catching up with family.  We went to Emo Court, where they have a big stately home with a really nice cafe set in lovely grounds with a big lake.  It was really nice to just walk around and luckily the rain held off until we went into the cafe for a late brunch.  If you've been to Ireland before you'll know how lucky you are if you manage to make it a whole day without getting caught in a shower.  We also went to one of the oldest pubs in Ireland for our first Guinness, it was such a quaint old Irish pub in a little town called Abbeyleix.

Now I'm sure if you read my blog you'll know that it's no secret that I love animals and the zoo, so of course we had to take a trip to Dublin Zoo whilst we were there.  If, like me, you love the zoo, I'd definitely recommend it if you ever happen to be in the area.  It is set in the grounds of Phoenix Park, which is a lovely setting and a nice place to visit in itself even if you're not a big fan of the zoo.








Playing spot the Hippo, I was actually a little stupidly excited by this one as I've never seen a Hippo in real life before.



So as not to bombard you, or bore you, with too long a post I have decided to split my trip into two parts and will share the rest of my trip with you in my next post.