Janet’s blog is beautifully written and gives you an insight into her stay with us at The Nesbitt Castle in December 2014.
Are you with the police?”, enquired the sternly unsmiling customs official as he motioned me over to view the screen of his x-ray machine. There in my luggage and in bald relief for all to see were two pairs of handcuffs. The x-ray had not picked up their pink furry covering nor the king’s inflatable crown lying alongside these suspected police accessories. I had packed some fun props for our visit to The Nesbitt Castle and was revelling in the surprise my fellow travellers would have when I presented them with these goofy gifts over a baroque dinner. Now it looked as if the surprise would be blown as I was taken aside to explain the offending restraining devices. I quickly decided that honesty and collaboration would be my best way out of this. Moving in closer to form a conspiratorial huddle around the computer screen, I whispered and motioned for quiet voices saying, “please don’t spoil the surprise, they are for my friends!”. Slightly wide-eyed with shock and with the beginnings of a smirk, the chief official waved me on with an amused admonishing “Ah, you are the naughty one”. I bolted as decorously as was appropriate while the screen continued to blink with the brazen bright whiteness of the steel cuffs. My secret was safe…Read More…