Tuesday May 13th

We had a fairly easy drive today, less than 40 km, to Ballygriffin which is just outside the town of Mallow. Getting through Mallow itself was interesting as there was a “traffic diversion” but the sat nav knew nothing about it so after doing a complete circuit we decided to just follow the diversion signs on the road and eventually came out at the other side of the town. 

Ballygriffin is a beautiful place as promised. 

The property straddles a river called “Blackwater”   

and sits at the base of the Nagle Range.

From the 13th to the 18th century the estate was much more extensive than it is now. Ballygriffin is run as a heritage, spirituality and ecology centre attached to an organic farm.  Electricity is solar and wind generated and geothermal energy is used for the heating.  Everything is recycled and there is a focus is on living sustainably.

 

The cosmic walk takes you around the farm and along the river which was jumping with fish (trout and salmon we were told).  The walk is basically a timeline tracing some of the main events from the beginning of the universe, through the earliest life forms on earth and the appearance of different plants and animals, to the present time. Each point in time was marked and some included sculptures such as this one of a Keraterpeton - an early amphibian, fossils of which were found in coal mines in Kilkenny, 

and the Sinodelphys szalayl - a marsupial mammal which lived about 125 million years ago (I assume in this area). I had always thought that marsupials had only ever lived in the Southern Hemisphere. 

The centre is used by the local schools for retreats and also as an ecology/sustainability study centre.  They also seem to have students who come for music lessons. 

The chickens are close by (I hope they are quiet in the morning – no rooster thankfully) and appreciated the remains of the scones 

and the donkeys were keen to come over to the fence for a scratch.