Summer Holiday Ideas

Family Holiday Ideas

One of our regular guests gave us a brilliant idea last Summer when they rented one of our beautiful cottages at Markree Home Farm.  They booked the kids into a local summer camp which left Mum and Dad free to enjoy some well-earned peace and quiet.  Family barbeques on the deck in the evenings and day-trips to local attractions made for “one of the best holidays ever”!

There are a huge range of kid’s summer camps available in the Sligo area, but two of our favourites are those run by Strandhill Surf School and the brilliant range of workshops from cartoon-making to Spanish & art at local pottery studio Rulabula

Dog’s Holiday

We have already had a blog post discussing the joys of travelling with dogs, which you can read here, and recently we’ve seen a huge number of dogs of all shapes and sizes enjoying short breaks away with their owners.  Finding somewhere where your dog can stay with you for free makes much more sense than forking out for kennels.  Not to mention the fact that dogs have just as good a time here as their owners do!  We allow dogs in bedrooms and they are free to enjoy off-lead walks in the grounds (provided they are kept under control).  For health and safety reasons we can’t allow dogs anywhere that we serve food but other than that they are as welcome as our human guests (and usually a lot less messy!).  Sligo is a haven for dog walkers and we are happy to recommend local beaches and mountain trails where you and your dog can enjoy some healthy fresh air.  So why leave the most important part of your family at home?

Creative Writing Retreat, May 24th-27th 2010

This four day writing retreat is for the creative traveler and writer who wants to discover and develop their writing skills as they source inner creativity and imagination through the medium of writing. This is an exclusive residential Writer’s Retreat for eleven writers. The workshop is open to new and established writers.  For details and booking visit www.thecreativewritersworkshop.com

Ace Study Tours, Yeats Country Archaeological Tour, June 4th-11th 2010

Land of Heart’s Desire, Where beauty has no ebb” – these words epitomise W B Yeats’ love of County Sligo,where the young poet spent so many happy childhood holidays. This tour explores the landscape, archaeology and mythology in and around Yeats’ spiritual home, both in Sligo itself and in nearby Lower Lough Erne.  For details and booking visit www.acestudytours.co.uk

Markree Castle’s Facebook Photo Competition!

MARKREE CASTLE’S FACEBOOK PHOTO COMPETITION!

All you have to do is add your favourite or best photo taken in or around Markree Castle and Markree Castle Homefarm to our fan photos on our facebook page.

The categories are:
+ Architecture
+ Landscape
+ People & Animals
+ Humour (amuse us please!D)
+ Wedding
+ Professional (please see rules below to see if you qualify)

#Please label any photos that you would like to submit for judging “facebook photo comp” and make a note of the category otherwise we’ll assume they aren’t entered! The same goes for any photos that you’d like to enter that are already uploaded#

Please note there is a limit of 3 entries per person in each category.

If you would like to enter but would rather not upload you photo to facebook, please email it to photos@markreecastle.ie, making it clear what it’s for! Please bear in mind though that we would like to publish the winning photo and runners up photos on facebook and our blog/website.

PRIZES:
- Winners (one in each category); A voucher 2 people to spend three nights in a superior room at Markree Castle or a Markree Homefarm cottage, champagne on arrival, breakfast each morning and dinner on two evenings (with a bottle of wine of course!)

-Runners up (two in each category); A voucher for one night’s B&B for 2 in a superior room at Makree Castle

Rules:
-Please don’t submit anything that could be deamed rude or offensive or that violates facebook’s terms & conditions http://www.facebook.com/terms.php?ref=pf
-Please make sure you have all indiviuals in the photo’s permision before you upload photos of them.
-Please make sure that you own the copyright to the photograph submited by you.
-Markree Castle reserves the right to remove any photographs from their page and the competition without consent of the entrant.
-By entering the competition you are consenting to allow Markree Castle to publish your photo (credited to you, of course) on their website and social networking sites (facebook, blog etc).
-Closing date for entries is February 28th 2010
-If you either make your main living from taking photographs or if you have used the photograph that you are submitting for commerical gain or took it as part of a professional shoot, please enter in the “professional” category. This includes professional wedding photography. If you aren’t sure please email us at photos@markreecastle.ie
-Limit of 3 photos per person in any one category!
-We reserve the right to change any rules without notice.

TO ENTER PLEASE CLICK HERE:

Markree Castle and the Big Freeze!

All people, in Sligo at least, seem to have been able to talk about all through Christmas and the New Year is the weather.  It has been very exciting to say the least-  rain, freeze, rain, frozen fog, freeze, snow, freeze, hail, frozen fog, thaw, rain, freeze and, today, snow again!  Unlike horror stories we’ve heard through the grapevine about other hotels locally, Makree has remained 100% accessible, with both running water and heat fully functioning.  We are really seeing the benefit of being close to main roads and having willing and able staff with grit to salvage both the avenue and car park and business has continued as normal.  Even some very dedicated members of staff have been rescued from their homes by other dedicated staff members with 4 wheel drive and are now living in the basement.  When all this started on December 20th it was quite exciting, now the novelty has worn off for most and it seems as though the cold is here to stay for at least another week.  We’re looking on the bright side and enjoying the excuse to continue Christmas-like celebrations into the New Year with mince pies and hot chocolate and blazing log fires.

Incidentally Markree is no stranger to cold weather.  In fact Ireland’s coldest ever air temperature was recorded at Markree in January 16th 1881 at -19.1 degrees C.  That’s cold.  Read Met Eireann’s analysis of Ireland’s temperature extremes here.  Markree Castle is home to one of Ireland’s longest running weather stations that was orginially linked to its world class observatory, home to the world’s largest telescope for a period in the 1800s.  So when you see the little cloud or temperature bubble over Sligo on the RTE weather forecast, that’s what the weather was doing at Markree today.  If you are into astronomy and such a quick google search on Markree Observatory will come up with a host of results most mortals can’t understand.  However, if you’re not into trawling though NASA’s Astrophysics Data System there’s always Wikipedia which gives us the bare, but accurate facts.

Our message to would be visitors:  If you can get to the main road, you can get to us!  And we have tea, freshly baked scones and log fires…

Markree Castle- Wedding Venue of the Year 2009!

Markree Castle Voted Wedding Venue of Year 2009

We were so surprised to have been nominated in the first instance that we can’t quite believe that we have won!  As one of the smallest venues nominated it is amazing that, out of 6 nominated venues, we came in with 1/3 of the vote to sweep the field.  It is with thanks to all of you and our dedicated bunch of brides and grooms that come back to Markree year after year that we’ve managed to do so well.  So a huge thank you from all of us here-  we are so pleased that all of our hard work and dedication over the years has paid off.

We are celebrating our win with an amazing wedding offer.  Enjoy free wine with your wedding meal for off your guests on selected dates in 2010. Contact us to find out more or call us 071-916780

Markree Castle Gift Vouchers

Markree Castle Gift Vouchers make the perfect christmas present

We have a lovely selection of gift vouchers available to purchase online for the first time this Christmas.  Give your loved one a great excuse to treat themselves to a weekend away

Gift vouchers have no expiry date,come in a range of values and packages, and will be posted out on the next business day after purchase

Click here, visit www.markreecastle.ie or call 071-9167800 to make your purchase!



Markree Castle Wedding Open Day, Nov 21st

We are delighted to announce our first ever wedding open day which will take place on November 21st. We are opening the castle up between 12 and 5 pm and the whole place will be set up and ready to go as it would be on your wedding day. We are hoping to get as many couples, past, future and potential, as well as their families and friends, together on the day. Of course, our dedicated wedding staff will be on hand to answer any questions you might have. We are also offering incredible discounts to any couples who book dates and pay their deposits on the day. There are also a range of special offers available if you’d like to stay the night, although availability is limited. Feel free to pass details on to anyone else you think might be interested. If you have any questions, please just let us know by phone on 071-9167800, or email us at info@markreecastle.ie. We hope you’ll be able to make it!

 

Markree Castle Short-listed for Wedding Venue of the Year 2009

We are pleased and honoured to have been nominated for realweddings.ie wedding venue of the year.  As one of the smallest venues listed, we need all the votes that we can get-  so if you feel that we are deserving of the title, vote for us here: www.realweddings.ie

Chance for a deep breath

We have had an amazingly busy summer.  Occupancy levels were well ahead of last year-  luckily as the room rates certainly weren’t!  All things considered, and all the depressing statistics regarding the hotel situation in Ireland taken into account, things weren’t too bad at all.  Back to school time is traditionally one of the quietest times of the years and it has given us the chance to stop meeting ourselves coming around corners, sit down and look at the winter ahead.  August, as always, was busy with weddings, but September and October are even busier, keeping a nice buzz about the place.  We love weddings and our wedding couples and it’s nice to have seen so many of them recently.  Surprisingly, even to us, year on year we have more weddings booked for 2010 than than we did for 2009 this time last year with enquiries and bookings still coming in daily.  Most of these are word-of-mouth recommendation which we take as the most sincere compliment and proof that we are holding our own as one of Ireland’s top venues in this competitive climate.

In between weddings there is lots going on in Sligo to keep the rest of our guests entertained.

On the 26th of September there is a proper Viense ball at Temple House with lessons from a dance master, ball gowns and orchestra.  We have accommodation available for the night (or the weekend)  at Home Farm.

Sligo Festival of Baroque Music runs from October 1st to 4th.  Supported by Sligo’s Model Gallery and the Arts Council the programme includes a variety of concerts, workshops and masterclasses.

At the end of October, our annual favourite, Sligo Live is back.  Ireland’s premier roots music festival is featuring the likes of the Saw Doctors, Imelda May, Josh Ritter & Martha Wainwright as well as lots of local artists and free acts in pubs and music venues all around Sligo town.  If you are planning to head West this October, let this be your excuse!

Here at Markree we love trying something new and we are really excited about our first ever, castle-wide art exhibition on starting on October 24th and running until November 22nd.  We’ve always wanted to do something like this, but as the castle isn’t what you could describe as typical gallery it hasn’t always appealed as an exhibition space.  Luckily we’ve found an adventurous crew in the form of the North Wests Artists Group who are happy to work with the unusal space and atmosphere.  To reflect the relationship between venue and work the exibition is titled ‘Shifting Fields’ and will showcase work of a number of talented artists living and working all over the North West.   We feel that their mission statment fits perfectly with our aims here at Markree: “The group was created with the intention of highlighting and promoting the visual arts movement within the North West region, from both an indiviual artistic perspective, as well as encompassing the broader reginal cultural agenda.”

Renovations!

We joke with guests that there is always a leak somewhere in the castle.  Though this is not strictly true, on-going maintenance of the castle is something that we put a lot of time and effort into.   The latest drama isn’t a broken window or some rumbling plumbing,  it turns out that an outside wall of the castle is about the fall down…  something that needs to be dealt with right away.

Apparently the lift shaft has been putting pressure on this particular wall from the wrong angle (they didn’t design the castle with lifts in mind) and that some of the limestone has started to crack.  These stones need to be replaced.  It actually isn’t nearly as dramatic as it sounds- ‘falling down’ is a bit of an exaggeration, but none-the-less it needs to be addressed asap.  So, scaffolding has gone up and work starts on Monday.

Luckily it isn’t nearly as bad as it looks-  the photo is taken from an angle members of the public never see.  In fact, if you had to chose a wall of the castle to need repair, this would be the one you’d chose.  You can’t see it from the outside of the castle, only from the central courtyard- this is the yucky bit of the castle where the tractor lives.  So aesthetically the castle remains unchanged.  Also, the scaffolding doesn’t look into any bedrooms, corridors or any of the common areas of the hotel.  Hopefully work will only take a few weeks and we will have a shiny new wall soon.  The fact that no one will get to see the shiny new wall is a bit depressing-  we like to show off our upgrades, but all things considered it’s great to be able to address the problem quickly and effectively with no impact on our guests’ stays.

Travelling with your four-legged friend

This week we’ve had four dogs (and their owners) staying-  a cavalier king charles, a border terrier, a black lab and a dalmation type.  Over the past few months we’ve seen the number people with dogs staying with us multiply.  It seems that not only is it difficult to find someone to look after your dog while you’re away, but it is also prohibitivly expensive to send them to boarding kennels (in some cases you can, apparently, almost double the cost of your holiday to send two dogs to kennels for the week).   You could always bring your dog along and keep it in the car which is fine for a couple of nights-  but a week of your dog alone in the car all night is possibly a bit much for some.  It also becomes a problem if the weather is too hot or too cold or if boot space is a big issue.

The feedback that we are getting is that one of the huge advantages of holidaying at home is that you can take your dog with you- dogs like a roadtrip as much as the next person.  So, it seems like a no-brainer; enjoy the value-driven hotel and self-catering offers available in Ireland, save the cost of boarding kennels or the guilt of leaving your dog with a long-suffering friend and enjoy the company of your canine family member while exploring the farthest reaches of Ireland.  The next challenge is actually finding a hotel that will put up with both you and your dog-  evidently this is easier said than done.  There are two problems:  firstly, hotels that accept dogs are few and far between, and secondly, some hotels accept dogs but with such strigent terms and conditions (must be on a leash at all times, or only allowed in certain bedrooms, or must be kept in a stable or run on the grounds) that you feel guilty even suggesting that you might bring them.

We find that humans make more noise and mess than dogs.  Especially since most dog owners a very conscientious about making sure their dogs are clean and well behaved before having them in their hotel rooms.  We also have loads of space for walks and runs.  Luckily we aren’t alone in allowing dogs in the hotel.  There are plenty of pet-friendly places to stay throughout Ireland-  the diffculty is finding them!  Here are some sites that we recommend to help you plan your doggy trip:

www.ohmydog.ie

Georgina Campbell’s Ireland Guide

Best Loved Hotels-  seach by pet-friendly hotels

Wedding Price Wars

It seems like everytime we turn on the radio these days there is someone talking about weddings and, more specifically, the cost of your wedding.  The general impression seems to be that wedding venues have been ripping brides and grooms off for the past ten years and now it’s payback time.  The media tells us to take advantage of the surge in numbers of hotels across Ireland, and their desperation for any kind of business at all and see how much you can squeeze out of them.  While it may be true that some venues had been over-pricing themselves on the assumption that people will pay anything if they want something badly enough, most of them had reasonable pricing strategies even in the heady days of the Celtic Tiger.  A hotel that opened up five years ago not too far from here began wedding packages that started at €110 per person for the very basics, within six months they were offering the same package for €80.  Customers have always wanted value for money and quality for money and that hasn’t changed.  Most hotel’s wedding prices are generally fair given the amount of work staff and management will have put into your big day by the time it comes to handing over the bill.

On the whole we don’t have a problem with people trying to get the best deal they can at Markree-  we know what we do, we do well and we can have confidence that a top notch product and service will always win out in the end.  We won’t compromise on quality of produce and service in order to beat a competitor’s price and we won’t go any lower than we can afford.  Luckily we are, and always have been, in a position to offer really good value for money, our rates have always reflected that, and we have no problem fitting our services around your budget.   If Markree is the venue for you, you’ve fallen in love with it and well as your betrothed, we’ll find some way to make it a reality.  Each and every wedding is, and always has been, made up ‘from scratch’, every element tailored to what you want or what you can afford.  Markree isn’t a package kind of place and our wedding philosophy reflects that.

With all that in mind, we have a few tips for the would-be haggler at any venue:

1.  Sort out the prices before you sign the contract and/or pay a deposit- the reasons for this are obvious.  Firstly, you won’t know if you’ll be able to get the deal you want/need until you ask and you may end up stuck with a venue that can’t fulfill your needs.  Secondly, it’s only polite to let the hotel know if you are on a budget before things are set in stone.

2.  Watch out for catches in ‘package’ prices.  Lots of hotels offer, for example,  1/2 bottle of wine per person as part of their package- rarely, in fact nearly never, would your wedding guests drink even close to this amount and not many hotels are offering you the left-over wine to bring home with you!  Often you’ll get a better deal on a per consumption basis.

2.  Remember that hotels are businesses-  exceptionally low prices mean they will be cutting corners somewhere to protect their profits, whether it be on the quality of food or staffing levels on the day.

3.  Beware of hotels that will only give you the best price if you pay for the whole lot 6 weeks before the wedding- we can’t think of a single non-shifty reason for this.

4.  Bear in mind that if you really want the best prices you will have to make some compromises. For instance, you will always get the best price if you choose an off-peak date for your wedding even if it means compromising your ideal of a sunny, summer Saturday.

5.  Don’t get too caught up in the price.  Ask yourself this-  is the cost the most important thing about my wedding day?  The answer is of course no-  instead think about value for money.

6.  Don’t always thing about value as being purely relating to something that you can physically hold on to.  Think of all the other intangible elements that will make up your wedding day: atmosphere, company, backdrop….

7.  The number one issue of contention seems to be corkage.  Seems to be a rip off since you aren’t paying for a product.  Instead think of it as a service and consider the other costs associated with serving wine, aside from the wine itself:  storing, chilling, polishing glasses, laying glasses, opening, serving, washing the glasses.

Here are some links to some wedding websites / blogs that we like, and that are full of information, forums and advice:

www.weddingdates.ie -best wedding blog!

www.realweddings.ie

www.weddingsonline.ie