Settling in

We arrived in Drumcliffe in the evening and so the first full day we spent getting accustomed to our new surroundings.  The first thing was a bit of laundry and then a drive to a grocery store.  After lunch in the afternoon we took a walk over to the church and stopped in the tea shop for tea for the grown ups and ice cream and cake for the kids.

St. Columba's Church aka Drumcliffe (or Drumcliff) Church

The reason this church is well know is because within the churchyard is this famous man's final resting place (he was originally buried in France but wanted to be buried here in the land that he loved and so he was moved.)

The graveyard and in the background is a tower which was once part of an abbey which was here in the Middle Ages and was struck by lightning in the 1300s.

This was part of the Drumcliff Abbey and dates back to the 900s  - the first monastery in this area was from the 500s.

We took a little wander by a small river after walking around the church a bit.  From the road you could look back and see the spires of the church - in the foreground are sheep and in the middle ground is a tall wall which surrounds the church yard.