Beneath Boyne Castle

If I had to list my favourite places in the world, Boyne Castle would be very near the top.

Part of its attraction is it's not well known, and often when I'm there, I have it (like today) completely to myself. To get to it you have to drive down increasingly narrow roads; know exactly where to stop - the castle isn't visible from the road - and park with difficulty on the verge, on a steep gradient; climb a gate; cross a muddy field (currently occupied by horses); climb a second gate; wade through dense undergrowth, including stinging nettles; and finally, it comes into sight through the trees.

Boyne was a substantial castle - actually more of a Renaissance palace - built about 1575. It was abandoned in the 1700s, and has been in a ruinous state for the last 200+ years.

There's a lot of the structure left, and it's an amazingly atmospheric place to visit. I took this picture of it about 20 years ago (on infrared b&w film), and I'd thought I might do something in the same style today, but this afternoon was dull with an overcast, non-descript sky and it didn't really lend itself to anything very dramatic.

Instead, I went for this. There are still a number of storerooms more or less intact at basement level, with wonderful vaulted ceilings; this is one of them, looking back towards the entrance and window that look onto the overgrown courtyard.