As I previously mentioned in other blog posts, my love life is nothing short of a complete and utter clusterfuck (pardon my French). So to spend the dreaded Valentine’s Day on my own, without any relationship drama was kind of completely beautiful.

I was in Blarney for Valentine’s Day and was game to spend the day exploring the castle that I had heard so much about. To be honest, the castle itself isn’t much (I think Scotland has ruined me for all other castles), but getting a Valentine’s Day kiss from the Blarney Stone was too good an opportunity to pass up.

As legend has it, anyone who kisses the stone will be rewarded with the attainment of the “gift of the gab”. Anybody that knows me would tell you that I don’t need any help with that! But hey, when in Ireland, why not?

After spending some time ascending to the top floor of the castle it was time to kiss the stone! It is actually slightly more difficult than it sounds.

In order to kiss the stone, one has to lie on their back and lean over the edge of the castle and kiss a stone underneath. People have died trying to do so in the past! Of course there are safety bars in place now, but if you were to fall you would definitely still hurt yourself.

A little advice: don’t try and do this while wearing a skirt. You will do as I did and flash everybody (not a good look).

After I was done snogging a stone, I set off to explore the gardens and grounds of the castle, and this is where the day became truly magical.

As has become semi commonplace for me, I had the grounds entirely to myself (yay off season) and these grounds are truly stunning. There is so much lush greenery, beautiful ponds, rushing waterfalls and magic steps said to grant wishes if you descend them a certain way. I spent hours in the gardens and I could have spent hours more.