a few distractions to the poets' reading may be the lambs through the window of the library where readings are held
One of the delights is the garden tour led by John O'Driscoll, the Head Gardener who will open the gate to the longest herbaceous border in Ireland
and as an antidote to all this posh country life, there's always the Percy French Satirical Verse event, held in the Percy French Hotel
- the mural in the back is, you guessed it, of Percy French (Edwardian singer/song-writer, of songs such as 'The Mountains of Mourne,' ' Phil the Fluter's Ball' etc) born nearby at Cloonyquin, near Elphin) and characters from his songs. For the unfaint-hearted is the late night craic in Beirne's (out the back of the grocer's) and the last night hoolie in the Victorian kitchens.