A quiet day in Westport County Mayo

We picked a beautiful day to stay in Westport and just go walking - 20oC max and sunny blue sky all day. It felt good to set out and be rewarded with this view back towards our little cottage with the waters of Clew Bay at extremely low tide.

We enjoyed a great flat white coffee on the quay while watching people and boatmen go about their day.

The walking trail towards town curved through a lovely glen of tall trees and wild flower undergrowth ......

.... until we came to our first view of Westport House, looking quite Pemberley like this morning with its extensive lake frontage. Westport House is considered a national treasure and is one of the few privately owned historic houses remaining in Ireland. It's a big drawcard for visitors to County Mayo.

The house was built by and privately owned by (until 2017 anyway) the Browne family who are direct descendants of Gráinne O'Malley. It was built in the 18th century on castle foundations belonging to the pirate queen. The Browne family are Irish nobility with a variety of titles - Marquess of Sligo, Lord Sligo, Viscount Westport, Earl of Altamont etc. Interestingly enough the current 12th Marquess of Sligo is Sebastion Burke who is a (quite aristocratic) real estate agent in Sydney!

A statue of Gráinne O'Malley takes pride of place in the grounds of the estate.

We enjoyed the guided tour of the house as its history is so interconnected with historical events in Ireland since the 1730s... through good times and hard times. Apparently William Makepeace Thackeray enjoyed his visits here as did WB Yeats at various periods of its history. Various Lord Sligos through the ages got involved in the anti slavery movement in Jamaica and pressured the British government for more aid during the famine times. They married interesting (usually wealthy) women and used their money and influence to do good things in County Mayo.

The house is not in great condition. The Burke family sold Westport House in 2017 in financial hardship. A local (rich) family of hoteliers has bought the house and promised to invest 55 million euros to make it leakproof and restore it to museum condition (and keep jobs in Westport). The 11th Marquis of Sligo (Jeremy Burke) opened the house up for paying visitors in 1961 but that income has not been enough to keep the house in sustainable condition.

There are over 400 acres of gardens surrounding the house - they were beautiful to walk around today.

We walked into town for a light lunch and enjoyed another coffee and a delicious Irish scone for dessert on the walk home along the quay - a very lovely relaxing day (and a few kilometres of walking) for us after weeks of being busy tourists.