My Hen Party

Ok, so, it’s been a while, but I am back 🙂 It’s been a busy few months and I have really had to prioritise what to do when and unfortunately one of my passions that is this website Irish Mountain Child had to take a back seat for a little while. So I am going to pick up around where I left off which was near my hen party.

So for those that don’t know, I had asked some of the very amazing women in my life to be my bridesmaids, these awesome women are my cousin Caoimhe (maid of honour), my sister Orla, my sister in law, my first friend that I ever made when I was 4 who is still my best friend to this current day and the only best friend I made as an (almost) adult who I just love Jessica Gresty (She featured on Get It & Give It – Link Here). Now I can’t compliment my girls enough, they were all amazing over the whole wedding period and I was lucky that they agreed to be part of it.

For the hen, my cousin done such an amazing job in organising the most perfectly suited hen for me. I am not a big drinker or partier, I am also someone who prefers quieter surrounding in nature rather than being in the middle of a city, I also love food and a bit of adventure with my nearest and dearest. I had about 25 people on my list of who to invite and as you can imagine, organising such an event wasn’t easy, but my cousin done such a super job.

I was told NOTHING!!!! The only details I had been given was that it was in Kilkenny, bring cosy clothes and it would be a 3 day/ 2 night adventure from Friday – Saturday.

Friday.

I drove down to the venue with my sister and friend Finola. I still had no idea where I was going, the destination was just typed into Google Maps and I was following the route. 2 hours later after getting a little bit lost looking for the venue and also finding my mom lost along the way we pulled up to a place called Ballilogue, that I can only describe from the outside as the perfect country farmhouse…..that was quite big. When we got out I saw some of my family and friends had already arrived and I was immediately handed a vegan prosseco with strawberries. I was then told dinner was almost ready and to take a little tour around and find my bedroom. So now let me tell you about Ballilogue….

Ballilogue is such an awesome venue for a family get together, hen party, wedding or just a place where a big group of people can get together and stay over and have the best time. It is four different houses with 2-5 bedrooms in each house and the design/ layout is fabulous. Think old country mixed with modern outdoor/ indoor style …. does that make any sense to anyone?? Check out some of the pictures for a better idea 🙂 Also just to mention, Ballilogue takes it’s environmental footprint seriously, the houses are deigned to bring as much natural light in as possible, proper recycling is implemented, their gardens are full of wild flowers for bees and butterflies and they leave various notes around to ask not t waste water.

Annnyyyway after I fell in love with Ballilogue and was so excited to spend the next few days here, everyone else arrived and we went to the long room to have an all vegan dinner. The food consisted of different salads, curry, postage dishes, vegetable dishes and lots of hummus!! Caoimhe organised all the food and had even organised a vegan cake for afterwards. She also kept the drinks flowing and after dinner we played some fun hen games like make your own TP wedding dress…the paper was later used for its proper purpose. We had the best fun and shared lots of laughs. We had to go to bed early though as Caoimhe had a nice 9am surprise for us all.

Saturday

Having been told to wear something comfortable we all met up at 9am in the one room again for a class of ………. morning YOGA!!!!! OMG how perfect was that! It was a class suitable for everyone, beginners – advance and actually it was really fun to have this mixture, as we all had a good laugh. After our yoga we met up in one of the houses to all make breakfast while having the Royal Wedding on in the background (How stunning did Meghan Markle look??? I thought the simplicity of her dress and beautiful view and head piece really showed how gorgeous she is).

 

At lunch time I heard another car pull into the driveway and again everything was kept hush hush. After about 40 minutes we all went to the long room again and to my joy I realised my cousin had organised a floral decorative class 🙂 with prosecco. The class was done by a lovely and every talent lady called Helen (from Helen’s Garden). During the class we made and decorated our own floral head pieces and ….. lady gardens (see pictures for what a lady garden is).

After the class we had a late lunch and literally spent the rest of the night talking and laughing. My dad and uncle also came to stay and I was so happy to see them. My dad and mom are two of the funniest people I know and to have them together with all the people who are important to me meant the the world to me.  We all had dinner and just spent the night together talking about everything and anything until the early hours of the morning. By about 2am there was only four of us left and we spent a good hour talking about the recent Irish referendum on Abortion, it was actually one of the most interesting talks I have had. All four of us women, all four of us were/are 100% yes and it was so fascinating to hear why each of us were voting yes.

 

Sunday

I had a bit of a sleep in as we were up until 5am talking, I didn’t even really drink. I think I had 2 glasses of prosecco throughout the whole of Saturday (thankfully). Sunday morning we all cooked and ate breakfast together and had to checkout by 11am. We had a few extra laughs and took some last minute pictures together and I took a video of the house(s), just to show Oisín, as the inside interior was UH-MAZ-ING!!!

I had such a fantastic hen and my cousin Caoimhe and the rest of the girls done such a fantastic job and threw me the most perfect hen I could of asked for. For me the weekend was just full of good fun, good food and love and that is all I could ask for. I would highly recommend Ballilogue as a venue (for anything). I hope you enjoyed this and maybe got some ideas from it.

x

Saoirse

 

 

 

P.s……..

I have a hen outfit post – here (in development, check back during the week)

My Top 10 Ethical & Eco Friendly Hen Tips – Here (in development, check back during the week)