Proposing in Kilkenny City

Pizzle

Hey everyone
I'm heading to Kilkenny with my girlfriend in the next few weeks and I'm planning to propose to her at some stage during the trip. I was looking online for some ideas on where to do it and there were a few suggestions for St Canice’s Cathedral and Round Tower.

Is this somewhere that you think might be a good spot? Is it usually busy there? I don't really want to drop down on one knee with a load of tourists around . I'd love to hear any other ideas that people have!

Thanks!

Sky King

Kells Priory is lovely and most likely will be very quiet but it's not in the city, it's about 10 mins drive away.

The rose garden in Kilkenny castle is lovely.

I wouldn't worry about there being people around - if you have an audience she might find it harder to say no!

Captain Havoc

Best of luck to both of you, she's a lucky gal as you're clearly a man of class to bring her to Kilkenny to propose

As to where to propose, on top of Canice's tower would be good, the castle looks lovely but it is full of tourists, you may get lucky in the rose garden at the evening time. You could take her for a nice stroll in Woodstock gardens, if you're driving down.

catbear

Well if your lucky you might get up the tower by yourselves but is it really a good idea? One of you might end up jumping off!

Medieval Rothe House garden is very tranquil.


Butler house gardens is another quiet spot near the castle.


Anyway if it all goes wrong this place is just a short walk away.

Pizzle

Thanks for the suggestions! I think she'd be mortified if I proposed with loads of people around, so I'll try to find a place that's relatively quiet. Medieval Rothe House garden looks like it might be a good spot! At the moment I'm thinking a walk/picnic somewhere nice would be the best idea, is there any where you guys can recommend that would be walking distance from the city centre? Woodstock gardens look lovely, but we'd probably only be able to head there on the way home.

Captain Havoc

Anywhere along the river really.

catbear

For a picnic the back field of the castle park is actually splendid. The Nore linear park walk which starts below the castle is beautiful too but it's much busier with dog walkers, etc..

Rothe house and Butler house can be very secluded, especially the orchard in Butler house.

If you need some rope and a shovel there's woodies on the ringroad or Lowrys hardware in Irishtown.

Pizzle

Thanks for the names of places guys, I'll start doing some research!

Sky King

catbear wrote: »

If you need some rope and a shovel there's woodies on the ringroad or Lowrys hardware in Irishtown.

Yep, and the builders providers beside Woodies sells lime and cable ties and duct tape.

catbear

Sky King wrote: »

Yep, and the builders providers beside Woodies sells lime and cable ties and duct tape.

For a romantic weekend Kilkenny has it all!

The duck pond in the Castle Park ( down at the end of the park) is a lovely spot, - and usually very quiet. Best of luck! Would love to hear how it goes, - maybe you would update us after the event .

jobbridge4life

There are piles of suitable locations in the Castle and park but if it was me I'd go for the rose garden in bloom by the fountain. Its an engagement you are allowed to be ott.

Pizzle

inthehat wrote: »

The duck pond in the Castle Park ( down at the end of the park) is a lovely spot, - and usually very quiet. Best of luck! Would love to hear how it goes, - maybe you would update us after the event .

Will definitely update everyone on how it went, hopefully it'll be good news

The rose garden idea sounds great, jobbridge4life. Is that lit up at all in the evening time? I don't mind OTT, but I think my gf would be mortified if I did anything with a large crowd around!

I'll do a google image search on the places you guys suggested and see what they look like. I think it'll be hard to make a decision of where to pop the question until I'm actually down there. Thanks for the great ideas though!

Captain Havoc

You can PM us the invites also

Comerman

Woodstock Gardens in Inistioge are beautiful and plenty of quiet/private spots, best of luck to you both.

kikel

catbear wrote: »

Well if your lucky you might get up the tower by yourselves but is it really a good idea? One of you might end up jumping off!

Medieval Rothe House garden is very tranquil.


Butler house gardens is another quiet spot near the castle.

Either of these are good.

Or if your partner like Elvis you could visit his gaff. I'm sure for a few quid he would provide a few tunes.

1984baby

Woodstock Gardens.
Plenty of areas in the Castle Park.
Jenkinstown Wood.
The grounds of Mount Juliet or Lyrath Estate.
Along the river bank in Graig.

Very Bored

I proposed to my wife drunk in a restaurant (I can't even remember the name of it) at the foot of Parliament Street after the All Ireland homecoming in 2007. It worked, she said yes, though she did insist on me taking her away to Belfast and doing it properly a week later. You're likely looking for something more romantic than that though lol. I would suggest the castle park. Its beautiful on a sunny day, you can take a walk and end up in a secluded part of the park. Then you have a romantic walk back up to the castle once the question has been answered (positively).

kikel

I'm going to give a push for Butler Gardens. It really is beautiful, it's quiet, has a number of benches for you to sit her down on. Or if you want you can get her to sit by the pond and sit on part of Nelson Pillar from O Connel street. Here is a image. Those rocks around the are part of nelsons pillar.

The reason I mention here is because it is in the shadow of the castle and a hell of a lot quieter. Only the odd tourist goes in there.



There is also a gazebo that could be free. See here.



Once finished here, it's a beautiful walk back through the Castle Yard, Kilkenny Design to have a view of the Castle and then walk back down the parade as the happy couple. Into the Left back for a celebratory drink.

PS this location may close around 6pm

Captain Havoc

Just thinking, you may want to have a plan B for the rain, perhaps inside the castle in the great hall.

lazeedaisy

To be honest, whilst Woodstock has some nice spots, I think there are more choices inthe city bear in mind the weather.

Also, us women love a bit of romance and fuss, so make sure it's not secluded altogether, sure everyone loves to see that romance is alive and well.

A great idea, and good luck

Pizzle

Thanks for the responses everyone!

The hotel we're staying in is going to put a picnic basket together for us. So the plan will be to arrive in Kilkenny, get the basket then head off for a cycle/walk to the castle and places suggested above...then pop the question where ever we decide to stop and eat!

Question for you romantics: would it be better to include wine/champagne in the picnic basket, or do you think that would that kind of ruin the surprise if she saw it on the way? I could always have champagne waiting back at the hotel maybe.

It would probably be more romantic to wait until the evening sometime to propose, but the stress might be too much for me to take if I wait that long!

Very Bored

Champagne would be obvious but wine no so how about Prosecco, basically Italy's version of Champagne and, in my opinion at least, nicer.

Some places sell those little bottles of wine - not sure about champagne ones though- but they would be easier to sneak into the picnic basket so as not to give the game away. Can't wait to hear all about it afterwards!!:).

Very Bored

Yeah you can buy Champagne snipes. I think supermarkets stock them but if not a decent off licence would. I'd say go with the prosecco though, champagne is overrated in my opinion.

lazeedaisy

A lot of people head to Nicholas Mosse pottery to buy a small reminder of the event, always nice to pick up a piece

catbear

When I used to go drinking in Kilkenny's secluded places a flagon of cider was enough. Plenty of fizz!

Best of luck Pizzle, I hope you it goes well.

Dozen Wicked Words

lazeedaisy wrote: »

A lot of people head to Nicholas Mosse pottery to buy a small reminder of the event, always nice to pick up a piece

Then put it down again when you see the price.

Good luck op.

Comerman

lazeedaisy wrote: »

A lot of people head to Nicholas Mosse pottery to buy a small reminder of the event, always nice to pick up a piece

Sounds like an ad for Mosse, first I've ever heard of heading there to buy a small reminder of proposing to their loved one, all very romantic

twinkletoes

Pizzle...what happened..put us out of our suspense????!!!! )

Rega

twinkletoes wrote: »

Pizzle...what happened..put us out of our suspense????!!!! )

He's down by the duck pond in the Castle Park crying




With a load of Nicholas Mosse pottery broken by his feet

twinkletoes

Rega wrote: »

He's down by the duck pond in the Castle Park crying




With a load of Nicholas Mosse pottery broken by his feet

Tut tut Rega you mean surely he's off telling everyone the good news in a romantic haze of happiness...fingers crossed!:))

Pizzle

twinkletoes wrote: »

Pizzle...what happened..put us out of our suspense????!!!! )

We're not heading to Kilkenny until the end of the month, so I'll fill in everyone then .

Thanks everyone for all the suggestions!

twinkletoes

Pizzle wrote: »

We're not heading to Kilkenny until the end of the month, so I'll fill in everyone then .

Thanks everyone for all the suggestions!

oops thought it was last wkend...Best of luck with it!:)

Very Bored

I've never even heard of Nicholas Mosse. There are plenty of things you can buy which are nice momentos of the occasion, no need to focus on one particular item, have a wander round and see what she likes. You might well be able to find an All Ireland medal somewhere, whilst they are like gold dust in the rest of the country they're as common as water down on Noreside :-D.

Comerman

Or just let the engagement ring be the memento

kclrlive

Hi there, we are discussing this thread on KCLR Live this morning Pizzle. We want to help you! Can you call 056 7796241 so we can get in touch?

Many thanks,
Eimear (producer)

Pizzle

Hey everyone!
Sorry for the delayed response. As of two weeks ago I'm now an engaged man . Things really couldn't have gone better on the day. We stayed in the New Park Hotel and went from there to the grounds of Kilkenny Castle and had a lovely picnic down by the lake at the far end of the grounds. Mid-picnic I popped the question, the stress was getting to me so thought I'd better do it early! Took her completely by surprise and got the answer I was looking for. Couldn't have asked for a better day. Thanks for everyone's help and suggestions.

Invitations are in the post!

miamee

Ah congratulations Pizzle, wonderful news! Good man for keeping it a lovely surprise for her

Pizzle

We were going away for my birthday, so she really didn't suspect I'd do something like that .

I must say as well, the New Park Hotel were absolutely fantastic. I let let them in on the surprise and they prepared a lovely picnic basket for us and had a backup plan ready in case the weather turned bad.

They upgraded the room to one of the executive suites, which was totally unexpected! They could not have done more and the staff were great.

If we didn't live so far away we'd certainly be considering them for the wedding reception!

raze_them_all_

Pizzle wrote: »

Hey everyone!
Sorry for the delayed response. As of two weeks ago I'm now an engaged man . Things really couldn't have gone better on the day. We stayed in the New Park Hotel and went from there to the grounds of Kilkenny Castle and had a lovely picnic down by the lake at the far end of the grounds. Mid-picnic I popped the question, the stress was getting to me so thought I'd better do it early! Took her completely by surprise and got the answer I was looking for. Couldn't have asked for a better day. Thanks for everyone's help and suggestions.

Invitations are in the post!

quickly followed by a quickie in the park no doubt as is tradition

jobbridge4life

Congrats!

catbear

Congrats!
Coming back to Kilkenny for the wedding?

lazeedaisy

Delighted to hear,

Enjoy the fun of the engagement,

Hurray Pizzle - delighted to hear the news!! I was a bit worried when the thread disappeared in case you got cold feet and chickened out. Congrats to both of you and I wish ye many years of health and happiness.

twinkletoes

Huge Congrats, glad it went so well, sounds amazing! May you have a very happy future together!

Ososlo

raze_them_all_ wrote: »

quickly followed by a quickie in the park no doubt as is tradition

Ha ha I think everyone from kk has had a quickie in the park at some stage in their lives
congrats op!

Autosport

Congratulations, glad to hear everything went to plan

Very Bored

Congratulations OP.

Did KCLR actually do anything for you? I half thought it was a wind up when I saw that message from "them".

If you did celebrate with a quickie I hope you recorded the evidence in case you have a little boy so he can play for Mr. Cody in twenty years time.