Ashford Castle is setting of spell-binding children's tale
Lisa Kelley with her children's book which is set in Ashford Castle.
A woman with strong West of Ireland roots has crafted a spell-binding children’s book based on Ashford Castle’s owl.
Lisa Kelley is the author of .
Based on memories of Lisa's time spent at Ashford with her family, the story follows the enchanting tale of Dingle the owl, who lives at Ireland's School of Falconry on the Ashford Estate. One magical Christmas, Dingle finds the courage to venture into the Castle, discovering festive wonders and hidden treasures along the way.
From Montana in the United States, Lisa is a practicing attorney and the president of Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Montana. She is hugely proud of her strong West of Ireland connections.
“I have deep family roots in the West of Ireland. My mother’s family is originally from Co Mayo, Co Galway, and Co Cork. My great-great-great grandfather, Patrick Lane, emigrated from Moylough, County Galway, to the United States in 1867. He was a widower and brought his seven young children with him to Montana, where he started a cattle ranch near Three Forks. The Lane family cattle ranches continue in Montana to this day.”
Lisa studied at the University of Galway during her junior year and fell even deeper in love with her ancestral home. A visit to Cong struck a chord and Lisa later returned to the area with her husband Marcus vowing to stay in Ashford Castle one day.
“Fast forward eight years to 2015 - we were married, had two kids, and busy careers - and we returned for an October getaway at Ashford with my mother and my sister. We returned again for the next couple of years (leaving our young children at home with grandparents), and I would tell them stories of our adventures at Ashford and our time at the School of Falconry and with Dingle the owl, and with all of the animals on the estate.
"I started writing these stories down, and then we began bringing our children on our Irish trips starting in 2019 when they were seven and 10, and they too loved the magical castle and the hawks and Dingle. We spent a very special Christmas at the Castle in 2021, and that was the basis for ."
The village of Cong holds a special place in Lisa’s heart.
“I met a gentleman at a pub in Cong several years ago who was originally born and raised in Cong and now lives in the US and visits often, and he told me something that his grandmother had told him - 'When you visit Cong, you step out of your body and you break into bloom.'
"I think that is a very true statement. It is a joyful place for me. I have gotten to know a lot of the residents - the shop owners, the pub owners, and the local families - during my many visits here. They have become friends.”
The book was recently launched at Ashford Castle and Lisa thanked her family and friends for their support and the team who helped bring her story to life.
“I had a great team who took such care with my Irish tale. Edwin McGreal at Mayo Books Press, Maeve Clancy, whose illustrations are exactly as I envisioned, and Siobhan Foody, whose attention to every detail created the perfect final book. The entire team is from the west of Ireland, and that was so important to me. They really helped bring my story to life, cover to cover.”
