A Whirlwind Weekend in Waterford

It was time to bring The Hubs' epic 40th birthday celebrations to a close.  He already had a fantastic birthday party and The Cake of All Cakes but what better way to mark such an auspicious occasion with a little weekend away.  Except it wasn't actually a weekend, but a mere 30 hours of food and fun.  Listen, we like to cram as much as we can into our time as possible.  This was a double present - he got a lovely trip away while I got three gorgeous meals cooked for me (a rarity indeed) and a night in a very beautiful place.  Yes, I am sneaky and conniving, but how can you not admire my strategy...

It's what we do best... apart from food!

We set off on Friday morning with the rain and wind battering the car intermittently to Waterford.  My, but the speed camera vans are very sneakily placed along the road (yes, Clonroche, I'm talking about you).  We didn't appear to attract their attention and soon we were on the lovely shiny new Waterford bypass.  It is the business - no more queuing in what seems like hours of traffic to get through the city... and a mere 2 hours and 20 minutes after leaving Maison Babaduck, we were in Lismore.  Why Lismore?  Because it is very pretty indeed and more importantly, it is home to O'Brien Chop House.  I'll write up a full individual blog post on everywhere we ate/stayed but you need to pay this place a visit.  I wish I lived closer so I could spend lots of money there.

O'Brien Chop House

After a fine and hearty lunch, we went for a little stroll before hopping into the car and driving to Dungarvan.  We had a dual purpose here - food and sleep - at The Tannery.  Our home for the night was the Tannery Townhouse - I wanted to move in and never leave - and we had booked dinner at the Tannery Restaurant.  A brilliant choice (if I do say so myself...)

This is Dungarvan

After a very lazy breakfast the next morning, it was time for lunch.  We drove 15 minutes up the road to the seaside village of Ardmore, home to the Cliff House Hotel where we had booked a table.  It stayed sunny just long enough for us to finish our lunch on the terrace...

Sun & Sand in Ardmore

And finally it was time to go home, this time on the ferry from Passage East to Ballyhack so I could make a pitstop at my favourite shop in Wexford - Kate's Farm Shop - to buy some of their amazing locally-grown vegetables.

On the Ferry... farewell Waterford

It seemed like we were away for ages but in reality it was less than a day and a half.  But we crammed a whole lot of fun and fine food into our little trip.  And we hope to return very soon!