Alexandra Burke has told TEN that she is planning to take some time off next year to travel to Ireland with her family to find out more about her Irish grandmother who hailed from Galway.
Burke is currently in Ireland performing in The Bodyguard at Dublin's Bord Gais Energy Theatre and told TEN that she was disappointed that she didn't have the time to explore her heritage this time around due to her intense schedule.
"My nan is actually from Connemara. I'm not sure what town she was from, but I wanted to take this time while I was here to research my background and my roots. But there wasn't enough time, so I'm hoping next year, with my family, we can take at least a week off of work and stuff to research where she was from," she said.
While she may not have as much time to explore as she would have liked, the X Factor winner did have the chance for a quick road trip to the West.
Speaking about the highlight of her trip, Burke said: "Seeing lots of sheep! I think that was really funny. But in all seriousness, the highlight for me was the scenery: it was absolutely beautiful to take the trip all the way from Dublin Airport to Galway and to Connemara, and also I went to visit Kylemore Abbey.
"It was incredible driving past it and seeing this massive castle and then randomly stopping in for afternoon tea and visiting where the boarding school used to be and seeing the background and stuff of who used to live there. It was really, really beautiful."
Alexandra Burke reveals plans to research her Irish roots & talks about her Galway road trip! http://t.co/lmAsClYL62 https://t.co/o1OG2K9n1C
— RTÉ TEN (@RTE_TEN) July 27, 2015
The abbey made quite an impression on the star, as she even posted a photo of it to her Instagram account with the caption: "Visited the beautiful Kylemore Abbey yesterday! Such a stunning place!!!"
And of course, she enjoyed a pint of the black stuff too.
