Forty minutes outside of Cork lies the tiny village of Shanagarry, where Stephen Pearce makes his famous pottery (well, to be more accurate I think other people make it for him, but still). In the past couple of years I’ve collected several pieces of this pottery from shops in London and other parts of Ireland, so I wanted to to right to the source this time.

The shop was picturesquely nestled among the dense greenery off the main road.

And inside was a trove of beautiful pots!

Restrained somewhat by (a) the knowledge that I need to get all this on a plane back to London, and (b) memories of a rather extravagant splurge on Australian pottery only a few weeks ago with Amanda, I did not buy all the things. I did, however, enjoy seeing the different collections in person. My favourite is still the simple terra cotta with white, but I also took time to appreciate the traditional black (which Justin likes) and the blue (which Amanda likes). And of course I did pick up a few things to bring home.

After that I stopped for a scone and jam…

…and then drove to Killarney, where I’ll be staying the next two nights. My plan had been to get here early and catch up on some life admin and work, but the town turned out to be charming and so I went for a walk.

I was delighted to find an ice cream shop with the tasty “brown bread” ice cream that I’d had during my last trip to Ireland. I had t eaten dinner but I figured it would be a fitting way to vicariously celebrate Justin’s birthday from afar (since I’ve never known him to say no to an ice cream).

And then some more walking until I’d essentially seen everything and my ice cream sugar high had subsided enough to feel hungry again. I found a spot for dinner that was highly rated on TripAdviser, but which had extremely slow service and only mediocre food. Fortunately I hadn’t Kindle with me and enjoyed some extra time with Jeeves and Bertie Wooster.