Guests more than impressed with a taste of manor life
And boy, were they impressed.
Not surprising really, as Tom and Judi Kane, owners of Adare Manor, are Grace’s grandparents.
Grace and her pals are staying in one of the manor townhouses with mum Terri Cosgrove (née Kane).
Grace, 14, who lives in Mount Merrion, said: “My friends, Jennifer Brown, Eibhlin Gaughan, Rachel O’Keeffe and Amanda Courtney think the manor is fantastic and we had lunch today with my grandparents at the tournament. We met some of the golfers and everything looks so fantastic. My grandparents are fantastic and I’m so proud of them.”
Shountrade national school, just outside Adare, had a day off yesterday to let the children get to the golf.
And teacher Elaine Lyons took her son Conor and his friend Maurice Noonan along the Open.
She said: “We don’t get too many days off in the year, so the school decided to make a day of it and close this Friday.”
Retired bank manager and balladeer Dermot Kelly was anxious to meet Padraig Harrington. His latest CD features The Ballad of Padraig Harrington.
Dermot, now 75, is famed for his ballad celebration the great Joe McHugh’s pub in Liscannor. A keen golfing fan, he is a past captain of both Lahinch and Ennis golf clubs. Dermot played on the Limerick hurling team which beat Clare in the Munster final in 1955.
Dermot said: “I recorded my first ballad in 1973 to celebrate Limerick’s win in the All-Ireland hurling final. I recorded this CD at Denis Allen’s studios in Limerick. I’m hoping to catch up with Padraig when he comes off the course after play to give him a copy of the CD. It also features a ballad I wrote about Christy O’Connor junior.”
A special guest at yesterday’s play was newly crowned Limerick Rose, Rebecca O’Hare, 25.
She said: “Being Limerick Rose you get lots of fantastic invitations. I’m here today with my boyfriend, Robert Anslow from Limerick, and a friend from Dundalk, Sarah Hickey.”
Rebecca is now looking forward for the regional rose finals, which will be held on June 13 and 14.
She said: “I don’t play golf, but I used to caddy for my dad when I was young. We had a look around the manor and it’s just so magnificent.”
It’s hard going in the auctioneering business right now. But Diarmuid Madigan of O’Malley Sherry Fitzgerald had plenty of enquiries at the company stand in the tented village about houses on the manor grounds.
The Limerick auctioneering firm handles the sale of a new exclusive 69-house development.
They start at 895,000 and go to 1.1 million.
Mr Madigan said: “While the market has slowed down and things are not moving as quickly, we are not under pressure with the manor development.”
There are only eight of the 1.1 million detached homes left and 10 of the lower-priced dwellings.
He said: “We have had a lot of inquiries over the past two days and these properties will sell. They are too good not to go. And purchasers get membership of the championship course.”
A team from the Spanish tourism board felt very much at home in the blazing weather.
Borja Bedoya, who will be based in a new Spanish tourism office due to open in Dublin shortly, said: “We offer this lovely weather all the time in Spain. Ireland is a very strong market for Spanish tourism. Up to now we looked after Ireland from London, but we are now opening up in Dublin.”
Padraig Harrington managed to mix family with business for the Open, in which he is defending champion.
He booked a townhouse on the manor grounds and brought along his wife Caroline and their sons Patrick, 4, and Ciarán, 8 months, as well as his mum Breeda.
One of Tom and Judi Kane’s guests at the tournament is retired US astronaut Jon A McBride. He was lead pilot on the maiden flight of the shuttle Columbia and completed an eight-day mission in 1984.
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