the 600—year—old blarney castle is set across a 60—acre site, but its most famous attraction is of course the gift of the gab is given to those who kiss it. this is our first view of where the famous stone is. up there? can i have a go? absolutely, let's do it. it was brought to the castle during the crusades. the lord of the castle saved a witch from drowning, who thanked him by casting a spell on the stone to cure his speech impediment once he had kissed it. of course, with the onset of the pandemic, kissing the blarney stone stopped, but now, with a strict disinfecting procedure in place, it's once again open to those eager to pucker up to stone. here we are, the world—famous blarney stone. just here? 0k. the last six inches of the wall, they are just cleaning it there now for us, so today you are going to have to lie down on your back, grab the two bars, and then you will slide in, but dave will be holding on to you the whole time so you are in a safe pair of hands, but you have it easier nowadays. the old way is we would have got you by your ankles and held you on outside of the wall

the 600—year—old blarney castle is set across a 60 acre site, but its most famous attraction is, of coursesaid that the gift of the gab is given to those who kiss it. this is our first view of where the famous blarney stone is. up there? yah! can i have a go? absolutely, let's do it. let's do it. the stone was brought to the castle from the holy land during the crusades. soon after, legend has it, that the lord of the castle saved a witch from drowning, who thanked him by casting a spell on the stone to cure his speech impediment once he'd kissed it. of course, with the onset of the pandemic, kissing the blarney stone stopped, but now, with a strict disinfecting procedure in place, it's once again open to those eager to pucker up to stone. and here we are. this is the world—famous blarney stone. just here? 0k. so it's the last six inches of the wall, that dave's just cleaning there now for us... right. so to kiss it today you're going to have to lie down on your back... yeah. ..grab the two bars... mmhmm. ..and then you're going to slide in. but dave's going to be holding on to you the who

the 600—year—old blarney castle is set across a 60 acre site, but its most famous attraction is, of courseo, dave's gonna lower your down, grab the two bars and then you're gonna slide back and kiss the last six inches of the wall. the last six inches, right at the bottom. there you go. whoa. he kisses the rock. that was a real smacker. perfect. that's great, it feels like a real proper old—fashioned ritual that's gone through centuries and i was part of it. thank you! but the question is this. paul, i'm now supposed to be more eloquent and charming? yes, so after kissing the stone, we've now bestowed the gift of eloquence or the gift of gab on you. well, i don't know about that, but at the risk of being platitudinous, you do look particularly handsome at the moment. oh, how kind of you — appreciate it. now i'm taking a short drive to the east of cork, out to the coast. this part of the country is considered by many to be the culinary capital of ireland. one big reason for that is ballymaloe cookery school. it's a place where people have been coming from around the world in recent years to

the 600 year old castle is set across a 60 acre site, . is set across a 60 acre site, but its most famous attraction is of course the blarneyhose who kiss it. this is ourfirst gab is given to those who kiss it. this is our first view of where the famous stone is. up there? can i have a go? absolutely, let's do it. tt there? can i have a go? absolutely, let's do it. it was brou:ht absolutely, let's do it. it was brought to — absolutely, let's do it. it was brought to the _ absolutely, let's do it. it was brought to the castle - absolutely, let's do it. it was brought to the castle during l brought to the castle during the crusades. the lord of the castle saved their wits from drowning, who thanked him by casting a spell on the stone to cure his speech impediment once he had kissed it. of course, with the onset of the pandemic, kissing the blarney stone stopped, but now, with a strict disinfecting procedure in place, it's once again open to those eager to pucker up to stone. here we are, the world—famous blarney stone. world —famous blarney stone. just world—famous blarney stone. just here? 0k. world-famous blarney stone. jus