Food and Fiber Lovers’ Tour — Day 9

Adare Thatched Cottages, built in the 1820’s by Lord Dunraven, is an historic village within the town of Adare. They contain shops and restaurants. We lunched at the Wild Geese Restaurant. I only had time to go into a couple shops. There are around 20 of the thatched cottages, so I’d love to return and explore further.

Nicola Henley is a English artist who has lived in Ireland for many years. She screen prints her work with birds as her common theme. She took us through her process which includes dying her fabric, discharging then screen printing with a light sensitive emulsion. Afterwards she may overprint or paint by hand. To finish she free-motion machine stitches and hand stitches, depending upon the intent of her composition. The edges of her works are raw.

Here’s her studio which is newly built next to her home.

Nicola’s process–she’s showing us screen printing on fabric she has already dyed. The motifs are seagulls,

Some of Nicola’s art.

We stayed for the evening in Ennis at the Old Ground Hotel. What a wonderful grand and elegant hotel. Highly recommended. After dinner, we found a pub playing Irish music. I loved the way some musicians came in and freely joined with the foursome already singing and playing.

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