The Exhibition was very instructive and we had the museum almost to ourselves. Covid, we were advised, had substantially reduced visitor numbers. It traced his young life, his time St Columb’s College Derry, to which he won a scholarship from the 11+ examination. On his departure, his parents presented him with a gift of a pen with a gold nib - a very expensive gift for an eleven year old! They must have foreseen what was to come, his time at Queen’s, later his professional career as a lecturer there and his time at Harvard and the award of the Nobel prize for literature.
The exhibition is interactive and one can hear the poet reading his poems - his favourite poem was, he acknowledged, from Clearances
There is a café on the premises, which serves light meals. It appears that it must be patronised by the locals as the number of diners greatly exceeded the number of museum visitors!
We quitted Bellaghy and drove to nearby Toome.
A canal walk has recently been opened there.
We set off on the walk along the canal, bathed in the warm afternoon sunshine.
to Lough Neagh
Ireland’s largest fresh water lake.
We returned to the car, en route we sought some refreshments at the lock keeper’s cottage and heritage centre
We returned to Ardtara and sat on the lawn in the warm evening sunshine imbibing an aperitif as we awaited dinner - a very satisfying day.
Today, we departed Ardtara, having first had a walk around the perimeter of the estate. On our walk, we came across the remnants of the linen industry associated with Ardtara. We first saw a dilapidated building, dated 1929, once used in the industry
in addition to a number of ruins of stone buildings adjacent to the nearby stream
and finally evidence that the tradition of linen manufacturing continues in Upperlands
The present premises
to this day in the hands of the Clark family.
All in all in all a great break.
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