The GOVERNESS Room was where one parked governess’, tutors, nannies and other such tiresome persons our parents hired to stop us having fun.
The present Sir John (Jack Leslie) also kept pet owls and bats here, as well as a fat white hen called, "Hotwaterbottle." He tried to teach her the rudiments of flight by launching the unfortunate bird out of the window. She would flutter down 20 meters, squawking her head off, and land in a pile of straw. The bats and owls came in useful for scaring cross governess’.
Little fingerprints can still be seen on the wall at the top of the great staircase, where Leslie children used to try to walk round the narrow ledge without killing themselves. Country life for kiddies was just one big adventure!
Other joys which governess’ were hired to prevent included toboggan races on tea trays down the staircase, climbing up the Church tower and ringing the great bell. Walking on the roof and crawling through the many attics and tunnels without getting stuck were also frowned upon.
Lionel's cousin, sadly, died in Paris and was buried in the Pere Lachasse cemetery, next to the tomb of Oscar Wilde. His mother was so horrified that she had him reinterred at a respectable distance. Some one must have lost or muddled her instructions. Because today his grave is marked only by the epitaph "Here lies another drunken Englishman."
The first bath in Ireland, also the largest, used to be in this room. Within its vast depths several children could be bathed at once. It has now been promoted to the Red Room, while the other room in this suite has been given to the Lover’s Nest, allowing them to canoodle without disturbing you!