Our company, which was formed in 1978, is a full ground handling tour operator dealing with tailor-made tours for FIT and groups as well as special interest tours such as antiques, gardens, golf, gourmet, cultural, architectural, and ghosts. Transport is by coach, minibus, chauffeur driven limousine or self drive car and we can also arrange driver guides and local guides. We have access to the finest private castles, stately homes and gardens in Ireland which guarantees a unique experience for your clients.
We also offer the Corporate Sector an entirely new and imaginative incentive product within Ireland.
While we use well known locations such as Adare Manor and Dromoland Castle, we can also arrange unique accommodation and entertainment services that will make any Meeting, Conference or Incentive trip really memorable. The price range is determined by your requirements. The clients of the various incentive houses for whom we have undertaken commissions such as Reuters, The Bank 0f Ireland, Volvo & 3M, have been truly delighted with the quality, the sparkle and the style that we have brought to their meetings.
Some recent events that we have undertaken for international companies include:
"In Search of the Leprechaun" - a 3 day cross-country treasure hunt. Divided into teams of 4, the competitors follow clues hidden in pints of Guinness, castle ruins, stately homes... Accommodation is provided in a variety of manor houses and castles.
"Connemara Adventure" - make a raft and cross Killary harbour, hack out your own Connemara Marble bookends .. and more
"The Irish Olympics" - take part in a hilarious day of Olympics which include Aran knitting, Tossing the Leprechaun, Drinking a Yard of Ale and even Kicking Cabbage.
40 participants
May 4th Knights in Shining Armour - The Camelot Experience of Chivalry and Combat
9 am Arrive At Shannon Airport where Pied Pipers will lead you to the vintage cars that await you. On the short trip from the airport to Dromoland Castle you will spot some strange events - are they every day activities in the Shannon region or are they teasers for the trip?
On arrival at the gates of Dromoland you are met by the hounds, horses and horns of the local hunt who will bring them up to the castle where they will be welcomed by Conor Myles O'Brien, The Lord Inchiquin, direct descendant of Ireland's greatest high King Brian Boru.
This morning relax and enjoy massages, aroma therapy and the attention of beauticians as you recover from the flight. After lunch in the castle the setting moves to Castle Fergus, on the edge of The Dromoland Estate.
The medieval Castle Fergus is, of course, haunted! Within its ancient walls the group is divided into teams of four who vie with each other at bygone arts - weaving, dressing your knight in his armour (all 20 pieces of it), blacksmithing, candle making, word turning, archery.... For more details click here
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This evening relish the delights of a medieval banquet, and then return to Dromoland castle in time to enjoy some musical entertainment before retiring to your bedchamber.
May 5th Getting Down and Dirty - Hands on Cooking
After breakfast a short trip by coach . You'll see the stunning landscape of The Burren and the majestic heights of the Cliffs of Moher. And then for lunch you'll be going back to school - a charming cookery school. in the heart of County Clare After a light lunch of local smoked salmon and Irish soda bread the work begins - dividing the group into teams of four they will each have to try their hand at the hottest culinary skills out there for the hawlapeenyo chilli cook off
The Game: Chilli. Chilli . - Experience first-hand what it’s like to earn each ingredient; to have to stare deep into its restless, lonely heart.
You and your team now have the opportunity to participate in this great debate. See your fiery delight through from start to finish, beginning with trading and bartering for ingredients, both at the General Store and with other teams. After creating the best darn chili ever, you design a marketing campaign to promote your culinary marvel, complete with an artistic sales pitch and commercial jingle. Judges score the chili, holding up hilarious signs like "that’s going to hurt tomorrow," "don’t quit your day job," and "hasta la vista!" Negotiation and teambuilding skills are essential to success in this fun and engaging program.
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On the way home to Dromoland we'll stop by a local pub for a feed of Irish Stew and the best dancers and musicians that Riverdance never signed.
May 6th LOST!
A new form of transport and a new challenge today. Teams of four will be allocated to a car, equipped with a cell phone and a map - the things that we had before sat-nav! The bright ones will notice a CD in the CD player. That has the first clue on a treasure hunt that will bring them from the West Coast to the East Coast. On the way they will be challenged physically, artistically and intellectually and will meet Irish farmers, shopkeepers and food makers. The ones who find the clues successfully - and they can always lose points and use the phone when they are hopelessly lost, will have lunch in a haunted castle, half way between Limerick and Dublin. At the end of it all they will have to show off their Graffiti skills to get their room keys from the Dublin Skanger who is the gatekeeper. A grand private dinner tonight in an elegant Georgian townhouse
May 7th
A little time for shopping in Dublin before departing for the airport, where VIP security clearance has been arranged.
A Night in Casablanca
The group arrives at Donegal Airport and are picked up by a coach.
The coach proceeds along the road and back half a century. After 10 minutes is stopped by a soldier in the uniform of a WW II German officer who issues ID cards to every one on the coach.
Seconds later they arrive in - ..... - Casablanca
For the rest of the evening the group will be in Rick's Cafe American as the story of the film unfolds around them - they are part of the film.
The next day they fly out of Donegal airport - back to the 21st century.
Amongst our
"Affordable Incentives" programmes is a series of 7 day self drive
tours of
Adams & Butler, Luxury Travel
Specialists
71 Waterloo Road
Mount Merrion
Dublin 4
T 353 1 2889355 F 353 1 288 9282 E info@irishluxury.com
US Toll Free 1-800-8945712
Corporate "Medieval Days" – rough outline
Spend a day (or two? or three?) as a Medieval Knight. Learn the Code of Chivalry and all the knightly skills and virtues, feast and quaff your fill, woo Fair Maidens, test your prowess in feats of bravery and skill, etc., etc.
Activities:
Arming the Knight: teams of squires compete to dress their "champion" in a full set of 15th century armour (all 20+ pieces are laid out and teams must figure out which piece goes where, and how it attaches). Team with the fastest time and most accurately dressed Knight wins.
Skill-at-Arms: demonstration fighting with several types of weapon.
Swordsmanship skills: qualified instructors safely teach the basic moves with wooden "waster" training swords, progressing to (blunted) steel weapons. This is very realistic-but-safe training with real effort required. Can progress to one-on-one bouts with point-scoring system.
Skill with the bow: learn to shoot with the longbow. Progressing to scored target competition.
"Paintbow" shooting with rubber blunt arrows and light bows through the woods. Will need some safety equipment (goggles, helmets, shields). Team competition rules apply (consider this one carefully – opportunity for accidents unless well supervised).
Jousting at the Quintain: train with the wooden Jousting Horse run on a pully. Learn how to steady the lance and score a "hit" on the swinging shield called a quintain (if you miss it hits you back!), or see how many rings each team can collect when "running at the ring".
Jousting (non-contact) demonstration with real horses and weapons skills from horseback.
Falconry demonstration and hands-on.
The Art of Heraldry: devise a Coat of Arms using the heraldic colours and symbols to blazon your team’s shield. An expert in heraldry shows how to create your personal statement.
Courtly Love: compose a sonnet to your Lady Fair, or sing a song of unrequited love. A knight is expected have a facility with words and music.
Learn to play a Medieval tune on an authentic replica instrument (large selection) and hear our court musicians play a lively and/or soothing accompaniment.
Practise some of the court dances and manners in preparation for………
The Medieval banquet: feasting, entertainments (fire eaters, jugglers, music and dance). This is where the Champion dons his Golden Spurs and is garlanded as the winner of the tournament.
For a basic indoor package with 5 core activities (arming the knight, archery, swordsmanship skills, maybe some music and dance) using 6 - 8 costumed personnel it will cost about €2,600 including VAT for 6 hours.
A 6 day Exploration of Ireland, its culture, its food, its countryside, and its people
opportunities
for golf, spa treatments, horse riding, traditional pub music &
entertainment and gracious Georgian houses
Day 1
Arrive Dublin Airport where you will be met by your guide. Transfer from the airport to your city centre hotel in a luxury 52 seater air conditioned coach.
Overview familiarization tour of Dublin on the way into your hotel. Welcome Irish whiskey tasting reception where you will sample 3 different Irish Whiskeys against Scotch and Bourbon, discover the history of Irish Whiskey and the differences between each whisk(e)y, and end your session with a glass of Irish Whiskey, a Whiskey Cocktail or an Irish Coffee, as well as receiving your very own Whiskey Tasting Certificate. Followed by dinner of modern Irish cooking
Day 2
A tour of the centre of ancient Dublin, visiting the Georgian Squares, St Patrick's Cathedral, Trinity College, with the famous Book of Kells, the pre-historic gold at the National Museum, and finishing in the pedestrianised shopping area of the city centre. Pub lunch. Afternoon at leisure. Optional golf at Druids Glen or The K Club, where the Ryder Cup will be played in 2006 or cookery classes teaching the participants to bake traditional Irish soda bread.
Special 18th century dinner at Mahaffy House with a contemporary menu. Mahaffy House is a private home, built in 1772, in the heart of Georgian Dublin, where Oscar Wilde's tutor lived. Travel from your hotel by horse drawn carriage or by the phantom "ghost" bus.
Day 3
Full breakfast at the hotel. Leave Dublin for Powerscourt, one of the World's Great Gardens. It is a sublime blend of formal gardens, sweeping terraces, statuary and ornamental lakes together with secret hollows, rambling walks and over 200 varieties of trees and shrubs. The 18th Century Palladian House now incorporates an innovative shopping experience, terrace cafe and house exhibition. Facilities include specialty shops, interiors gallery, & garden pavilion. On to Glendalough. This early Christian monastic site was founded by St. Kevin in the 6th century. Set in a glaciated valley with two lakes, the monastic remains include a superb round tower, stone churches and decorated crosses. Across the Wicklow Mountains to Carlow and on to overnight at Mount Juliet or The River Court Hotel in Kilkenny.
Day 4
Along the valley of the River Nore to the village of Inistioge, where the movie based on Maeve Binchey's novel Circle of Friends was filmed. On to lunch at Berkeley Forest the private home of the Countess Berntorf, has a museum of 18th and 19th Century toys, costumes, toy carriages, embroidered textiles and rare dolls - many of them from Irish families. The property is named for the uncle of the philosopher Bishop George Berkeley, in whose honour the University of California is named. The walled garden of 1780, now part Italian garden, part fernery, part bonsai, part knot garden overlooked by a fairytale thatched summerhouse, is very attractive. The Countess is know for outstanding combination of irish & Danish cuisines.
For those who do not wish to tour, the various activities of the Mount Juliet estate are available - spa treatments, golf, horse riding, clay pigeon shooting, etc. The Jack Niklaus course at Mount Juliet is one of the top parkland courses in Britain or Ireland.
Day 5
Time for shopping as you explore the medieval city of Kilkenny with its narrow streets and quaint shops. The impressive castle, the medieval merchants houses and the ancient cathedral make Kilkenny a memorable place to visit. Alice Kytler, a local witch, was a famous resident of the city in the 14th Century and your walking tour will dwell on some of the supernatural legends of ghosts that are still popular in the city. Pub lunch in Castledermot at The High Cross Inn. This delightful 'olde world' Inn contains a lot of interesting old artifacts that visitors can stumble upon. Located just a mile from the High Cross, the Inn is surrounded by well maintained gardens with plenty of Jacob sheep roaming freely. Return to Dublin. A farewell with an Irish "hooley night" of traditional dinner and entertainment at a famous local pub.
Day 6
Full breakfast followed by departure for airport
Four
Night Incentive - Kerry based
Day 1 Arrive Shannon or
Transfer to the 18th century coaching inn, The Dunraven Arms in the
pretty thatched
Day 2 The day starts
with a seafari, cruising down
Day 3 A morning of
sports - archery, skeet shooting, quad biking and
team games, followed by lunch on the banks of the lakes of Killarney.
After lunch teams will remake the John Wayne & Maureen O’Hara
classic movie The Quiet Man. Oscars
for the best production will be awarded at a Traditional Pub Night this evening
with musicians, dancers, Guinness, an Irish Whiskey tasting and hearty
traditional dishes.
Day 4 As you depart for
Shannon or Cork you will meet a local shepherd whose flock look set to block the
road, until his dogs work to clear them into a field, where he will demonstrate
their skill and give everyone a tiny farewell gift.
Throughout the trip cars and drivers are available and a hospitality desk manned all day.
Day 1
Irish
Piper to welcome group & Irish coffees on arrival. Dinner in the hotel
followed by a night of music & dancing.
Day 2
Activities
in Castle Leslie
OR
The
Final Crusade
is a competitive challenge between three teams. Each will have to use their
ingenuity to outsmart the other teams, They will all be provided with initial
clues and have to use various forms of transport to get to the other clues. The
transport will include Land Rovers, horses, mountain bikes and boats. Anagrams,
puzzles and various other brain teasers will keep each team active as they
navigate around the 1,000 acre estate.
In
the evening the group will have a six course candlelit banquet at Castle Leslie,
hosted by Sir John Leslie and his niece Samantha.
Overnight
in the Nuremore Hotel
Amongst our "Affordable Incentives" programmes is a series of 7 day self drive tours of Ireland staying in country inns with significant host company branding at their accommodation and on pillow gifts, etc. As with all our tours we will work with you to come up with a range of teasers in the months leading up to the incentive.
These tours are designed so that your guests can bring their family with them. Pillow gifts are chosen to match the profile of the guest's family, and there are branded pillow gifts for all the family. The guests are greeted on arrival at the airport by one of our staff representing the host company. They are given a self drive car equipped with sat nav and a cell phone. The detailed itinerary will normally have been worked out before arrival, to take into account the guest's interests, such as golf, fishing, gardens, etc,. and with the car will come a pack of detailed directions and vouchers, all branded. On the first night an informal pub supper is arranged, and again the menus are branded. The quality of the accommodation is outstanding and part of the benefit is that the host company becomes beloved by all the family! And for sales staff incentives it is even better - it means that you do not lose all your best sales staff for the same week.
The ground cost for a family of 4 for 7 days / 6 nights, including gifts, transport, accommodation and breakfast every day is from €90 per person per day
Adams &
Butler Ltd. 2007US Toll Free 1-800-8945712