Happy Christmas

Ho Ho Ho ....... Merry Christmas.! We would like to wish all our customers a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

Good news for visitors heading West

For those you planning to visit Galway and Connemara, we are delighted to announce today that our parent company will lease all the tourist-related elements of the beautiful Kylemore Abbey, Connemara from January. This includes the visitors centre, pottery studio, craft shop, restaurant and Victorian walled garden. If you haven’t already heard of Kylemore Abbey lets just say its one of Irelands most beautiful and popular tourist attractions, judge for yourself…. http://kylemoreabbey.com/ Best of all, Barnacles customers will undoubtedly benefit from discounts and good deals at Kylemore Abbey in the new year.

If you are interested here’s a little history……Kylemore Abbey, in its famously spectacular location in Connemara, is the oldest of the Irish Benedictine Abbeys. The Benedictine Order, who have resided here since 1920, have a long history stretching back over three hundred and forty years, originally founded in Ypres, Belgium, in 1665.

The building itself is one of the great baronial-style castles remaining in Ireland, built between 1863 and 1868 for a Manchester politician named Mitchell Henry. Its six-acre Victorian walled garden, created by Henry in tandem with the building of Kylemore Castle (now Kylemore Abbey) is one of Ireland's finest gardens. Other important features of Kylemore Abbey include the neo-Gothic church, built between 1877 and 1881 in memory of Henry's wife, which is a miniature replica of Norwich Cathedral, complete with a crypt.

“New” hostel – Barnacles Eden Quay

Lalco Development Company will finally begin work on our new hostel on Eden Quay, Dublin in mid January. Barnacles Eden Quay will be a sister hostel to Barnacles Temple Bar House and Barnacles Quay Street House and will be the flagship of the Barnacles group with a hip trendy design and up-to-the minute facilities. Have your say now on how this hostel should look by sending us your suggestions on what makes a good hostel, we’d love to hear from you…. Eden@barnacles.ie