We placed this cache during the second covid-19 lockdown. This path was not yet opened at the time, but it did give us a walking opportunity while we were confined to our 5km circle (much to the builder's chagrin). It will form part of a much wider plan to incorporate a green-way slash cycle path between all of Glanmire's schools and Little Island, and ultimately Tivoli, which is long overdue, and being built in a piecemeal fashion. As the roads in Glanmire have not really been updgraded despite the massive increase in housing, these safer walking/cycling alternatives are a must.
It was great to have an off-road route to escape the lockdown monotony, but when this new road network opens, it will no doubt be a noisy and busy route alongside one oc the country's most vital pieces of infrastructure.
Smiley Daze hid one our first ever cache-finds near here, and we always wanted to extend the local options. Have a rest on the benches and check out the waterfowl and bird life.
Across the road and up the hill you will find a wellknown local hotel.
It has a history as dramatic as the rich mustard tone that sets the building apart from the surrounding woodlands on the peaks of Glanmire, Co. Cork. The building, perched on a height overlooking the Glashaboy River, has stood proudly since 1756. Built by Davis Ducart as a summer leisure lodge for Lord Barrymore, the building was designed in the Regency Style, a style that was very popular in the latter part of the 18th century. Characteristic traits of the Regency Style include an emphasis on the classical form, and the forging of a close relationship between structure and the landscape, evident in hotel, which nestles in to the surrounding mountainous woodlands.
Lota Lodge as it was originally titled, forms part of a collection of grand country houses in the Glanmire area of Cork, like; Dunkathel House, Glenkeen, Glyntown House, Lauriston House and Brooklodge House.
The house was home to AF Sharman Crawford and his family from 1875-1946, who was thankfully here to restore the house to its original glory after a fire in the early 1900s destroyed some of the original building. Crawford was a managing director of the Beamish and Crawford Brewery, (which was founded by his uncle, William Crawford II), and the city of Cork benefited from his philanthropic disposition, particularly in the arts; in fact the Crawford family funded the establishment of the Crawford Art Gallery and the Crawford School of Art.
As with so many other grand houses in 20th century Ireland, the building was purchased by a religious order in 1951, and was used as a seminary for 13 years, until it was converted into a hotel in 1964 by Joan Shubuek renamed the building because of the parallels she drew between the area, and the Austrian capital city where she had lived for a number of years.