Super Saturday - Phoenix Park Visit

Heritage Week 2025

For Heritage Week, I booked 2 tickets for an Architectural Tour of Farmleigh in the Phoenix Park. To get there we cycled to Dawson Street and folded our bikes to take them on the 37 bus to the Castleknock Phoenix Park Gates. From there it was a short cycle to Farmleigh.

Farmleigh, Phoenix Park

When we arrived to Farmleigh, which is the "State Guesthouse" we checked in for our tour in the Motorhouse and then being a little early we had time for a coffee at the Lake House looking out on to the water. 

The tour started promptly at 11.30am and lasted about an hour. Our guide was excellent and gave a really interesting tour. Here's a few photos that I took but they really don't do this house justice and I highly recommend you visit yourself to see this place that was a holiday home / country estate to the Guinness family from the late 1800's to 1999 when it was then bought by the Irish State and restored for civic and state use, including welcoming foreign dignitaries.

After the tour we visited the Cowshed Gallery and then cycled back to the city via the great cycle lanes on Chesterfield Avenue on the main road in the Phoenix Park. It started raining when we got close to the city so we headed to Capel Street for a lunchtime plate of wings in All Bar Chicken.

After this we cycled to Rathmines via the newly pedestrianised Parliament Street with the incredible vista leading up to City Hall. In Rathmines we did some printing in Rathmines Library. When we left the library we discovered it to be raining heavily so we immediatly ran over to the Omniplex and bought tickets for a screeening of Nobody 2 which was starting shortly. When we left the movie theatre at about 5.30pm the rain had stopped and cleared for the evening and the temperature was pleasant. I was glad of this because there were a few large outdoor events on in Dublin including the Robbie Williams concert in Croke Park and the College Football Game between Iowa and Kansas State in the Aviva.

Later we walked to Ranelagh and got a takeaway pizza from Rita's for dinner. We had split wings at lunch time and we split a pizza for dinner!

All in all a perfect Saturday with a great visit to the Phoenix Park and a lovely cycle all over the city from Southside to Northside and then back again.