Page 13 - Sligo X North West

The Spirit of Christmas at Lissadell Fair takes place on December 7.
8Get a guided tour of amore, Streedagh and Dunmoran. 11Drive the Horseshoe twentieth century artists. Run to the Coney
Be a Royal at Markree 13The majestic Markree Castle in Collooney has been home to the Cooper family for 370 years. Although up for sale, it is fully operational and it does great food. 14Get Active
Sligo people love being ac- tive: watersports, golfing, horse riding etc. There are always inno- vative walks and runs on across the county, from the Warrior’s
Lissadell
Give yourself
enough time to
take the tour, have lunch in the tea rooms and then explore the gardens, woodland walks and the 9exhibitions afterwards.
Walk this Way
There are countless beaches across the county for long, solitary walks but try to find some of the hidden gems, including Culleen-
Ot try some of the countless wood- land trails including breathtaking Hazelwood and Union Wood. 10Step Back in Time
Sligo Folk Park in Rivers- town provides a true experience of rural life and Irish heritage at the turn of the late 19th century. Dolly’s Cottage is also worth a visit: is a 200-year old traditional, thatched cottage in Strandhill.
The Gleniff Horseshoe is a six-mile loop of single-lane road surrounded by spectacular moun- tain views. See Benbulben and the cave that was the home of ill-fated lovers Diarmuid and Grainne. 12Soak in some Culture
The Niland Collection at The Model is a must-see for all art lov- ers. Started by Nora Niland in 1959, the collection features work by many of Ireland’s most acclaimed
Island Challenge. Get involved and meet the locals . 15Just Chill Out
After all your hillwalking, surfing, golfing and sightseeing, it’s time to chill out. Sligo has any number of amazing spas including Cromleach Lodge with its stunning views over Lough Arrow to Cas- tleDargan in Ballygawley to the Raddison in Rosses Point.
Visiting 13
Lissadell: We’re ready for our most successful year yet
The Walsh-Cassidy family are busy preparing for Christmas at Lissadell. After reopening this year, the family is determined to make up for lost time. Constance Cassidy and daughter Elanor tell Martha Kearns about their plans for the house, dreams of more concerts and their role in the events planned around Yeats 2015.
Reopened: Lissadell hosts a Christmas Fair on Dec 7.
The owners of Lissadell House are putting in place major, exciting plans for the famous site in 2015 - including concerts, special events, music festivals and even weddings.
Barristers Eddie Walsh and Constance Cassidy bought Lissadell, which was the childhood home of Countess Markiev-
icz and Eva Gore Booth, in 2003 for €4 million and have spent around €9 million since then restoring the property.
The high-profile dispute over right-of-
Sligo is where it is
at for Yeats 2015 becauseYeatsis Sligo. Sligo influenced everything that he did. He ate, drank and slept Sligo
way with Sligo County Council put their plans for Lissadell on hold for the past five years. As a result of the dispute, they had to close the doors to the public in 2009 until they finally won their case, on appeal, in the Supreme Court last November.
But, now the family are planning to make up for lost time.
Last month, they hosted the Harvest Home Day and a gig by Mundy. The Spirit of Christmas Fair will take place on De- cember 7 with carol singing, market stalls, Christmas trees and a visit from Santa.
Plans are already underway for more concerts next summer, with Leonard Co- hen still being pursued as a performer by the family. They are also looking at hosting weddings, open-air civil ceremonies and even small music festivals.
“The next two years are very impor- tant for Ireland and for Lissadell as you have the Yeats 2015 celebrations and then in 2016, the Rising celebrations, which Constance Markievicz played such a huge part of,” says Constance Cassidy, who has just arrived from Dublin with her daugh- ter, Elanor, to get the house ready for the Christmas event.
“Sligo is where it is at for Yeats 2015 because Yeats is Sligo. Sligo influenced everything that he did. He ate, drank and slept Sligo.”
While plans are in full swing now for making Lissadell a vibrant location, it was not always a sure thing. For some of the family, their hearts had gone out of it. Ed- die, in particular, had no interest in even visiting the house and hadn’t done so in at least three years.
“From the time we lost the High Court case, Eddie decided to refocus in his life and Lissadell was not part of that focus. When we won, I didn’t know whether we would be coming back as he never mentioned coming here for Christmas or anything,” says Constance.
Her daughter Elanor - the eldest of seven children - picks up the story.
“All the kids pushed for it. Everyone missed being down in Lissadell and it was a ‘now-or-never’ decision. We all wanted to do it,” says Elanor, who is studying law in Maynooth.
In February, Elanor went to her parents and said that they had promised her that she could have her 21st birthday party in Lissadell, something she had always want- ed. They decided to hold the party in April and preparations began.
“I didn’t want to be around to see Eddie coming down for the first time in three years. I knew he would be sentimental. But it was a sea-change and for the first time ever he started talking about Lissadel
again. We said nothing but we smiled,” says Constance.
Taoiseach Enda Kenny officially opened the house on June 21 last but the family only made the decision to re-open on June 10. “We had the guts of 10 days to get it ready. We - and all the children - threw ourselves into it,” says Constance.
The house was open until October and 20,000 visitors passed through the doors. “We wanted to see if it would wash its face and it did. It allowed us to consolidate, to do some construction and to start repair- ing avenues and doing up the galleries.”
While Constance describes the row with Sligo County Council as a nightmare, she has nothing but praise for the new county manager, Ciaran Hayes, who she says has indicated that he would be supportive of events proposed by the family.
“The right-of-way thing was a night- mare but we couldn’t do anything other than fight it to save what we had saved. We are five years behind but that’s behind us now. I want it to be vibrant and working to justify itself. Lissadell is a great brand and we want to protect that,” says Constance.
26 November 2014
Irish Independent