The mad hatter cafe in Castledermot

I’ve heard the Mad Hatter Cafe mentioned loads of times, on tv or in the paper and I always meant to visit and sample it. It’s ten minutes drive outside of Carlow in the very small town of Casteldermot. It is very much needed as there are no coffee shops in the town.
So, when I met the owner, Alice at a Pilates class and she was telling me about all the yummy home baked produce that she made, I had to schedule a visit!
Unfortunately, when I did visit, I was full, had a rather large breakfast in the Ritz Carlton, Powerscourt (get me, I know! Simon was at a conference there) and was still full by the time I met my friend for lunch.
Camilla went for the Caesar Salad, I just had coffee and a very good coffee it was. A big mug of it. Alice and her husband make everything on the premises-beautiful multi-grain bread, carrot cake cupcakes, granola bars and lots of chocolate produce!
I bought lots of treats for Simon but I will have to bring him there at some point. We need a good, non franchised, local run and owned cafe in Carlow with homemade produce with a smile. But, at least, I only have to go a few minutes down the road if I get a craving for some nice home made food!
If you’re passing through Castledermot, it’s worth a visit. Just off the main street, opposite Londis, plenty of free parking too.

Free wifi in Lir coffee bar, Ballaghdareen, Co. Mayo.

On our way back to Carlow, I saw three signs on the side of the road telling us to come to sample their coffee and food.

Go on, treat yourself, you know you wanna.
Better food than your Mammy’s!
I had to stop here as they had got the apostrophe right.
Lir’s Cafe bar is really a pub/bar but does rather good coffee. Plus, it has free wifi so me and iPad were really happy!
Lunch is good a chicken pesto wrap with fries to share €5.95. Really, nice little waiting staff. There is never usually a reason to stop in Ballaghadreen and now there is!
This could be our new stop!
After this, I’m on the way to buy my new shoes In Dundrum, LK Bennett shoes are to be mine at last! I had promised myself these shoes if I completed a task( sounds mysterious but it’s not) and when I didn’t complete the task, Simon gave me a voucher for them for my birthday!
Cannot. Wait.
I’ll take photos later and demonstrate how cute they are!