It takes a village

From Dublin, we set out to visit the Campbell Clan in Aughnacliffe, Co Longford. John Campbell is a great friend of ours and must have told a couple white lies as his family agreed to host us for a night in their home.  At this point in the trip, all we knew was their address did not register on the GPS (or Sat Nav - thanks Clare) that came with our rental Passat.  We headed in the general direction of Longford and after we realized there would not be a sign for Aughnacliffe, rang the Campbell abode for navigational assistance. The head of the household, Sean Campbell, answered the phone and immediately told us to pull over in the nearest town and he would come meet us. We were giddy with excitement, he had the most charming Irish accent! He must have been just as excited as we were, because as he pulled up he immediately jumped out of the car and forgot to put it in park. Our hearts melted a little as we watched him jump back into his moving car, his daughter Michelle rolling her eyes and laughing. We were going to fit right in. 

He taunted Ryan's manhood as he sped along the country roads, expecting us to stay right behind him as we twisted and turned around blind corners. A little white knuckled (probably just me) we arrived at the Campbell Compound and Margot, Clare, and Mairead spilled outside to great us. 

The fake out Campbell Abode

The actual Campbell Abode

We had no idea we were getting all of the Campbell sisters! It didn't end there, Pakie, their 100 year old grandpa (101 in September) greeted us in the sitting room with an extremely firm handshake and a smile.  As we strained to keep up with the chatter (Irish english is not American english :)), we munched on biscuits and brown bread (their neighbor is celiac and made gluten free options) and drank tea and coffee.  With full stomachs (running theme here), we piled into two cars and were shown the sites of Aughnacliffe village, part of Colmcille parish in county Longford. How cool is that? They use words like village and parish and all of the farm land and friendly neighbors felt like a dream. They showed us the Aughnacliffe Dolmen, views from Molly Hill and turf plots (rotted trees from the bog that are cut and dried to be used as firewood in the cold months).

View of the lake and the land

The Dolmen

Sean teaching Ryan about turf in the bog

After our tour of the area we spent some time in and around the Campbell shop and learned about their trade as butchers (many generations). Sean, essentially single handedly, runs the shop and both raises and butchers his lamb and sheep. He works 10-12 hour days and I never saw him without a smile on his face. 

The Campbell's shop, just down the street from their home

Training to bring in the cattle

We sat down to a dinner of lamb (butchered about two weeks prior to our arrival), bacon wrapped chicken, roasted and mashed potatoes, carrots, Yorkshire pudding, and cabbage. The wine, beer and cider runneth over as well. Thanksgiving dinner was officially put to shame. They called us Yanks and allowed us to butcher common Irish phrases, we then tested their American accents (Clare won) before heading out for a pint at the local pub.

I could go on and on describing our stay with the Campbells. We had such a wonderful time and would have stayed on for weeks if not for our strict itinerary. They are warm, loving, hilarious and one of the most tightly knit families I have ever witnessed. They might not realize it, but while they all have very distinct personalities, they move a lot as a unit and are constantly helping and taking care of one another. It was extremely charming. Campbells, we can't thank you enough for your hospitality. 

Fun Fact: I am now Facebook friends with all of the sisters and fully expect a visit to repay their kindness in the very near future. !!