Author:

Ms (Leigh) Bella St John aka Luxurious Nomad ~ https://ElegantisVitae.com/

England to the Isle of Man

Since I was stuck, I figured I may as well treat myself to a lovely dinner at the hotel into which I had booked for the night…

Oh, and this is my beloved Prince (hard-top convertible) waiting patiently for me…

The next morning, I arose to go to get the boat, only to find it was still out of service… but they expected it to be operational by the afternoon… so, more exploring…

Finally, I get a message that the boat is leaving at 3:00am – yes, that is AM… so I figured I would pass the time back at the beach…

…and finally…………………………..

So much for our 3:00am departure… At 4:30am we begin boarding…

Not a sight I expected to see half way between the mainland and Isle of Man…

…as the sun is rising…

…and I had fallen in love with the island before we even docked…

Driving through Douglas, on my way to the glorious bnb in which I was staying…

…and upon my arrival, find Laurence had arranged for flowers to be in my room to greet me… After such a long couple of days, that made me feel ever so special…

…and now for some much needed sleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep……………..

~ Bella

Historic Helmshore Textile Mill

Best laid plans… I was supposed to essentially land in Liverpool, collect my car from storage, and then catch the boat over to the Isle of Man – only the boat broke…

So, I decided to do some exploring…

Helmshore Mills is essentially two mills built in Helmshore, Lancashire. Higher Mill was built in 1796 for William Turner, and Whitaker’s Mill was built in the 1820s by the Turner family.

As the sign says, “the last original functioning cotton spinning and carding mill left in existence!” I felt so privileged to experience it!

Hmmmmm, well since I am stuck on the mainland, had best find somewhere to stay for the night…

~ Bella

Heavenly private flight from Ireland to England

For several reasons, I decided to treat myself to a private flight from Ireland to England – and I could not have been more delighted with my choice…

Arriving at the private lounge…

…am then taken to my very own conference room to await my flight…

The captain came in to say hello… Captain Thomas Mueller owns the plane and is the youngest operator of private charter flights in Europe.

The lovely staff at the private lounge…

After going through a private security screening, my luggage is whisked away by a porter and the captain and I are transported out to the plane…

This pride and joy is a Diamond DA42 and was like riding in an airborne limo…

Oh, and re the photo below… If you note the DHL plane earlier – these guys are going to pull it across the tarmac area for charity…

It was funny getting into the aircraft, I needed to step on the seat and so took off my shoes – the captain and first officer both said, “no, you can leave your shoes on”, to which I replied, “I’m a girlie girl – we do not stand on furniture with shoes!” LOL! That made both the flight officers and ground crew laugh…

Our First Officer, Jonas Bielkevicius, was also our pilot-in-training, and he did an excellent job.

…and this is what flying normally looks like…

…and now we were sitting on the tarmac for longer than it took to load the plane and get to this point…

…but eventually we get the go ahead to get into line…

…and take off…

…and after only around 40 minutes, Liverpool landing strip comes into view…

…and a perfect touchdown…

My driver is awaiting me on the tarmac…

…and once my luggage is deplaned and loaded into the limo, we head off…

…and see an unusual sight along the way…

My only challenge now is that the entire experience was SO perfect, I don’t know how I will ever go back to commercial flying! LOL!

Oh, well… Not a bad problem to have…

Thank you again to Captain Thomas and First Officer Jonas from Franconia. You were wonderful!

~ Bella

The Rock of Dunamase

It was a lovely excursion to find the Rock of Dunamase – and such a peaceful area.

There has been occupation on the Rock since the 9th century, but this castle dates from the 12th.

You can read about the fascinating history of the Rock here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunamase

I was fascinated by these warning signs – to me, the one in the middle looks like ‘beware of running over people who are running to get away from you’ – and the one on the right looks like, ‘beware of people on hoverboards’!

~ Bella

Ireland’s Oldest Tree – and more sights…

Out and about again in northern Ireland (as in the north or the Republic of Ireland, not Northern Ireland)…

Managed to spy these beauties while I was at a gas station…

What every round-a-bout needs – an unused entrance to a castle…

…and this magnificent tree is Ireland’s oldest – and is a relative of the majestic Angel Oak in America. (hmmmm, note to self: need to upload those older photos to the site!)

Then off to find this extraordinary set of buildings…

…and back to the splendour of the Victorian-era Grand Hotel…

…and heading out to explore the local area…

Obviously the person who wrote this sign was having a bad day on the scales…

~ Bella

A day of exploring with no specific destination in mind…

It was such a lovely day so I decided simply on a direction, with no real destination in mind – other than I had chosen where I wanted to end the day for an early dinner…

I find this climbing rose absolutely captivating – and look at the size of the trunk! I cannot imagine how old it must be…

This below is on one side of the highway and on the other is a statue of a guy holding the reins that stretch invisibly across the road…

This old railway station was up for sale… What an lovely piece of history…

My final destination was Adare Manor – and both it and the grounds were stunningly beautiful, however I was asked not to take any photos of the grounds or the manor due to certain guests being in residence at the time…

All in all a lovely day out!

~ Bella

Prehistoric megalithic tomb, stunningly beautiful ruined castles, and more…

Again, out at an appointment this morning, I decided to “take the long way home” as Supertramp would say… but first – this was the view from my hotel before I even left… Heavenly!

This is Brownshill Portal Tomb, also known as Brownsill Dolmen. It is a prehistoric megalithic tomb whose date of construction has been estimated at between 4,900 and 5,500 years ago.

…and in case you are wondering, that granite capstone weighs 103 TONNES! How did they get it up there? Your guess is as good as mine…

This majestic beauty is Duckett’s Grove Castle – and I fell in love with it!

…a gate to a secret garden?

…and continuing on…

…and home in time to get a bunch of work done…

~ Bella

Farney Castle and Holy Cross Cistercian Monastery

On my way back from an appointment, I decided to simply follow my nose and see where I ended up…

Farney Castle is the only round tower in Ireland occupied as a family home. The first castle was built at Farney in 1185, with this round tower being built in 1495 by Thomas Butler, 7th Earl of Ormond, Lord Chamberlain to Catherine of Aragon.

Today, the castle is home to Cyril and Margie Cullen – Cyril is a maker or porcelain and beautiful one-off knit wear… and I had the honour of meeting both Margie (pictured below) and Cyril.

…then off again to explore…

…and time to head back to the hotel…

~ Bella

Haunted castle, Templar inn, lighthouse, and more!

What a marvellous day’s exploring! Haunted castle, Templar inn, lighthouse, tall ship, medieval ruins… and home early in the afternoon, and in time to do a full day’s/night’s work…

I did not feel at all compelled to do the tour – the entire place felt so incredibly sad…

From their website, here is a little of the history of the hauntings…

“It is for many years said to have been visited by the Devil, so many people from the surrounding area are nervous to enter the place after dark.

Legend has it that during a storm at sea, a dark stranger approached the Hall on horseback after his ship was driven into nearby slade Harbour with rough seas. He was invited in to seek shelter and spent some days with the Tottenham Family who were living at the Hall at the time. The young Lady Anne Tottenham was especially taken with this dark stranger and fell head over heels for him. One night during a card game, she dropped a card and upon bending down to retrieve it, she noticed that this dark stranger had cloven hoofs instead of feet. As soon as he realised what she had seen, he shot through the roof in a ball of flames.

Anne never recovered, she went into a state of shock and madness and her family locked her in the tapestry room for fear that anyone would see her.

She died a couple of years later, still quite young, but her death was no release as servants and family members reported seeing her wandering through the house at night. The family had the local catholic priest Fr. Broaders exorcise the Hall but he could not exorcise the tapestry room.”