• Luggage Collection: 8:15 AM

• Wheels Up: 9:30 AM

A short trip on the bus and we arrive a working dairy that has been in the family for generations, the Molanna Dairy Farm.  This was a real working dairy currently owned by a delightful and welcoming family. This was a real treat to visit with the Fenton’s, ask questions and see the everyday lives of an Irish dairy farmer. 

Molanna Dairy Farm History:
Paddy and Margaret Fenton are dairy farmers living near Kilmallock. Paddy was born in 1942. They have 4 sons and 1 daughter. The 4th child, a son, is taking over the farm. He talked about the ownership of the land. Their families lived as tenant farmers. They were finally able to buy the land from the British government and had a 50 year mortgage, but then the Irish government took over, so the mortgage began again. It didn't stop there, the Anglican Church wanted their share; if you didn't pay you lost your furniture. and then the Catholic Church stepped in and if you didn't pay you could not have Sacraments. Finally in 1961 the mortgage was paid. but the Catholic Church continues to want their share. 

Paddy Fenton closed our visit with him by reciting this emotional poem:

What is All When All is Told

O' What is all when all is told,
This ceaseless tolling for fame and gold,
The fleeting joy of bitter tears,
We're only here for a few short years.
Nothing's our own save the silent past,
Loving or hating - no thing can last,
Each pathway leads to a silent fold,
O' what is all when all is told.

What is it all a grassy mound,
Where day or night there is never sound,
Save the soft low moan of the fanning breeze,
As it lovingly rustles the silent trees.
Or a thoughtful friend with whispered prayer,
May sometimes break the stillness there,
Then hurry away from the gloom and the cold,
O' what is all when all is told.

What is it all just passing true,
A cross for me and a cross for you,
Ours seems heavy while others seem light,
But God in the end makes all things right.
He tempts the mind with loving care,
He knows the burden that each can bear,
Then turns life's grey into loving gold,
O' what is all when all is told.

Before we arrived at our next hotel Tauck gave us another surprise. We had a lovely tour of Killarney in a horse drawn carriage. The tour took us through parts of the Killarney National Park. Our guide and carriage driver was a little surly and dampened the already wet rainy day, but the park was beautiful with open grass fields and forest. The park boarder the Lough Leane.

It's on to Killarney where your accommodations for the next two nights are at one of Ireland's most gracious hotels, the Aghadoe Heights Hotel.  Once again, we had dinner together as a group at the Killeen House Restaurant. It was a good meal, but more important to me was being able to get to know some of our fellow travelers better.  The Killeen House Restaurant was only about a 5-10 minute drive from the hotel, but the wind had picked up and it was very blustery, so we took the bus.

Molanna Dairy Farm