Discovering The Charm Of East Donegal

Donegal is known as the county of welcomes and I was to discover this firsthand when I stayed at Mrs Josephine Martin’s award winning B&B. Mount Royd Country Homeis a charming, period residence, located outside the village of Carrigans and just 8km from the city of Derry.

Even though I arrived at 11pm, Josephine still offered me a cup of tea, before showing me to my luxurious room. The next morning I was treated to a sumptuous traditional Irish breakfast that fueled me up for most of the dayahead! I had also been woken by a traditional rural alarm clock – a rooster’s call! Fresh free range eggs were sure to be on the menu. Breakfast was served in a beautifully furnished dining room. A large Waterford Crystal lamp sat next to the breakfast buffet table, a gift from one of Josephine’s past guests. Simply walking from one room to the other in Mount Royd B&B was an experience due to Josephine’s lavish attention to detail.

Josephine’s motto is ‘‘ to treat guests with the same hospitality and service as I would wish to be treated‘‘. This devotion to service has won Mount Royd Country Country Home numerous acolades over the years, including being a R.A.C. Little Gem Award Winner every year from 2000-2006. Despite the many awards, it’s clear that Josephine and her husband Charlie, continue to treat their business more as a labour of love. “I always offer guests a cup oftea and some homemade treats when they first arrive or return from a day’s travelling as I find it often helps them unwind“, Josephine added. It was no surprise to hear that many of her guests have become family friends. B&B’s still offer that authentic, homely, hospitality that is so uniquely Irish.

Josephine also added a touch of suspense to my visit by sharing the story of a real-life triple murder mystery that occured in nearby Dunmore House in 1938. This gruesome tragedy and the surrounding countryside inspired a young Agatha Christie to pen many of her future novels.

Mount Royd Country Home is also ideally located to explore the North West. The City of Derry is just 10 minutes drive away while Omagh Folk Park is less than a 45 minutes drive by car. The start of the spectacular Inishowen 100 scenic drive is less than 15 minutes away.

The majority of holiday-makers that visit Donegal tend to drive through the east of the county on their way to the Atlantic coastline. This is overlooking the fact that East Donegal has a lot of fun activities to offer and ancient sites to discover.
You can enjoy a thrilling “Night at the Dogs“ at Lifford Greyhound Racing Stadium or take all the family for a Harry Potter style adventure to Oakfield Park, near Raphoe, where you can explore the enchanting gardens on foot or take a magic steam engine train ride around the lake and park.

Get a sense of Ireland’s ancient past by visiting Beltany Stone Circle. This enigmatic site is even older than Stonehenge and consists of 64 standing stones. Grianan Aileach is also a must see ancient site while visiting the area. This ancient stone fortress is situated on a high hilltop with magnificent views of the Donegal Highlands, Inishowen, Derry City and East Donegal, Dating back to 1700 BC, Grianach Aileach was once the seat of the Kings of Ulster and was dedicated as a fortress to the Sun. Nearby Burt Chapel is themed on Grianan Aileach and won a prestigous European award for its design.

East Donegal also has its own unique character andcultural heritage, which I was to find out upon visiting the Ulster-Scots Education Centre, just a few kilometres from the village of Carrigans. The fertile lands of the Lagan Valley have been home to people of Scottish and English descent for almost 400 years and the Monreagh Ulster Scots Heritage Centre tells their story. The audio visual room is built like an old-time classroom, complete with wooden school benches and ink wells, from where I watched a fascinating local documentary, portraying the strong tradition of potato harvesting in the area.
There’s a lot to see and experience in East Donegal and simply passing through, should no longer be an option!

Donegal bed and breakfast accommodation.

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Irelands landscapes

Ireland's landscapes are renowned the world over and the reason why apparently 82% of visitors to Ireland to see the scenery and sights just as the Cliffs of Moher and Giant's Causeway. Sculpted over the millennia by both natural and human forces Ireland's landscapes are truly beautiful and a joy to behold any time of year. If you are fond of photography and who doesn't own a camera phone these days than you will find plenty of dramatic photo opportunities, like this pair, but please be careful....

Ireland's landscapes vary from the wild, storm lashed coastlines of the Western seaboard or the Wild Atlantic Way as it is being marketed these days, which stretches from Malin Head at the tip of the Inishowen Peninsula in the North of Ireland right down to the West Cork and on around into Kinsale, a journey of some 2500 kms, to tranquil, green, rolling hills of the Magical Midlands Ireland's landscapes to can boast of having a the world renowned limestone Karst region called the Burren which is a riot of wild alpine flowers in Spring and early Summer on the surface, yet home to a dramatic underground world of caves and watercourses, including the longest stalactite in Europe at Doolin Cave also in County Clare.

Is it any wonder that Ireland's dramatic landscapes are steeped in myths, legends and fairytales, stretching back 5000 years to the age of the Celts 'Brú na Bóinne' (Newgrange) and way beyond.....Ireland is one of few places in the world where you can walk in the 385 million year old footsteps of the dinosaurs down on Valentia Island in County Kerry.

Ireland Things To Do

Ireland Hidden Gems - Things To Do has been completely updated, rewritten and rearranged for 2015. It now contains Top 10 listings of the best (not necessarily the obvious) Visitor Attractions in Ireland, ranging from cool castles like Trim and Tullynally to exquisite country houses like Beaulieu in Louth and Belvedere in Westmeath. Museums like the Hunt in Limerick and the Chester Beatty Library at Dublin Castle (itself another gem) Sacred places include not only Newgrange but the lesser known treasures such as Holy Cross in Tipperary and Glenstal in Limerick. There are bus trips and boat trips and adventures to go on which will add an extra dimension to your experience of Ireland, whether you are here for a week or have lived here all your life. Superb cultural attractions like the Museum of Country Life in Roscommon and the Thea Award winning museum at Glasnevin Cemetery in Dublin, not forgetting the timeless Bunratty Castle and Folk Park with the famous Cliffs of Moher nearby.

Being Ireland, there is a smattering of the best distilleries, Lockes and Jamesons as well as the Guinness Storehouse of course, plus a few surprises like the Foynes Flying Boat Museum where Irish Coffees were first invented. Quite a few of the sites listed are owned by the Irish State and managed by the OPW (Office of Public Works) which means admission is either FREE or very reasonably priced. Most attractions offer good discounts for booking online and hats off to the excellent Blackrock Castle Observatory in Cork which is free on the first Friday of every month, as is the Hunt Museum in Limerick which is free every Sunday with two for the price of one on Mondays!
Also included, is a list of 10 Hidden Gems or other Things To Do and See at each location that you will not find in any of the regular guidebooks or generic websites about Ireland. These vary from Irish heritage gems such as holy wells, ring forts, castles, churches, graveyards and villages, to nice places to walk or have a picnic, buy really good Irish crafts, as well as good places to eat and special places to stay.
A few tips before you go, prices and opening times can vary for all sorts of reasons, so please check first and keep your eye out for seasonal events at each location, these are often free and great fun. If you are driving a hire car, do not leave valuables on display especially at remote locations and as always Leave No Trace take nothing with you but your photographs and memories, all of them good, we hope!
All the best, Susan Byron.
Ireland's Hidden Gems - Things To Do 2015
Ireland's Hidden Gems - Places To See 2015
Ireland's Hidden Gems - Travel Guide 2015
Ireland's Hidden Gems - A Guide to the Islands

Ta súil agam go mbanfidh sibh taitneamh as agus do d’té sibh slán

I hope you enjoy my recommendations and have a safe journey.

Irelands Best Islands

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No visit to Ireland would be truly complete without a visit one of Ireland's best islands. There is no shortage of choice with a short list of 16 of the 25 largest off shore islands in Ireland, included in my new Guide to Ireland's Islands which is available on Amazon Kindle. There is no substitute for a bit of island hopping in Ireland and a day out to any of those recommended will surely rate as one of the highlights of your Trip to Ireland. You will get real value out of a day like that when you have no option but to fall into the islanders rhythm and slow down to a snails pace. Most islands don't allow cars which means your only option is to go walk about or hire a bike, or if you are feeling really lazy take a mini bus tour, where available or a jaunt on a horse and cart. Either way you will be forced to slow right down which is no harm and for many a welcome relief to being permanently switched on or connected.... Relax, kick back, take time to smell the wild roses or feel the sand beneath your toes, you are in for a treat on any of Irelands best islands.....

I designed and wrote this Guide to Irelands Best Islands so that you wouldn't land up as I have often done without a clue as to where to go or what to do in the limited few hours you might have ashore. You don't want to head off for hours in the wrong direction only to find the prettiest scenery or the nicest pub was just 5 minutes in the opposite direction. Nor do you really want to hit the busiest ones in high season, no doubt you will have heard of the Aran Islands, a series of 3 islands off the coast of Galway which are accessible from Doolin beside the Cliffs of Moher in the summertime and Rossaveal in Connemara all year round. The world and his mother will be heading for Inis Mór (the big island in English) to see the cliff side fort of Dun Aonghusa etc but if you really want to get a sense of real island life, head for one of the smaller ones like Inis Oír or better again Inis Meain which you will have pretty much to yourself any day of the year.

If you are not fond of boats, there are several other islands that can be reached by landbridge including Achill Island in County Mayo, which has some of Ireland's best beaches and the original Atlantic Drive precursor to the Wild Atlantic Way or Valentia Island off County Kerry where you can walk in the 385 million year old footsteps of the dinosaurs....
Ireland's Hidden Gems - a Guide to Irelands Best Islands

NEW FOR 2015 - Trip to Ireland Planner

NEW FOR 2015 - Trip to Ireland Planner

Leprechauns and fairies?

There is no such thing as leprechauns in Ireland, so apologies to any of you would be believers in magical crocks of gold at the bottom of a rainbow, they don't exist or at least I haven't found one yet!. The whole notion of leprechauns was much more of a Disney invention that came along with the likes of bad ‘oirish’ accents in films such as ‘Darby O’Gill and the Little People’. But Little People or Fairies? well they do exist, oh yes and here in Ireland we do not mess with the fairies, ever. They are known to live in very special places called fairy forts or fairy rings which are those raised circular mounds of earth, that you will see all over Ireland, we have some 40,000 in all....

You are very welcome to visit them, walk around them, make a wish by all means...But it is thought to be very bad luck to interfere with these mounds. I heard a story once of a digger driver who attempted to make an opening in one down in Cork and was dead by night fall, God Rest him and there are plenty of other stories like that. Certain trees are revered too, especially hawthorns which country people will never ever chop down or remove for fear of disturbing the fairies who often live underneath and who are likely to wreak havoc if disturbed ie, sour milk, cause crops to fail, animals to sicken and die....So don’t say ye haven’t been warned ! In fact down in Clare where I live a motorway was diverted to avoid an important fairy tree on the ancient boundaries of Munster and Connacht, and that is a true story.

No one knows more about fairies in Ireland then Eddie Lenihan a gifted story teller or seanchaí (in Irish) who also lives Clare, but has collected his stories from all over Ireland, this is one of his best....

The Wild Honey Inn - Lisdoonvarna

The Wild Honey Inn is a gastro pub in Lisdoonvarna, County Clare, formerly the middle of nowhere to most people but fast becoming THE BEST PLACE to eat in Ireland. What qualifies me to make that claim? Nothing, other than being a paying member of the public with a serious appreciation and respect for good food, imaginatively and well cooked. How often have you browsed a menu and gotten really excited about the description ie the exotic ingredients, the wild herbs, infused flavours etc etc that somehow get lost in translation, never actually materialising on the plate, not so at the Wild Honey Inn, what you see it what you get and more. The only element of surprise is the delight in the taste, that magic moment when the taste buds meet the anticipated and it all rings perfectly and exquisitely true.... www.taylormadeireland.com 

We now consider ourselves totally blessed to have this wonderful gastro pub on our doorstep, well a 30 minute drive up and over the mountains or around the coast via Black Head, just enough to build up an appetite….The Wild Honey Inn is cosy and welcoming with its sage painted wood panelling, Irish tweed plaid cushions and comfortable spacious seating and tables and nice big turf fires. And if the beds are as comfy and welcoming as Kate and her staff I am sure it must be a great place to stay as well. We’ve been several times now on our own and with friends, since we ‘discovered’ it on a trip to Cliffs of Moher last summer, when I had Lemon Posset for the very first time, and have been dreaming about it ever since. The Wild Honey Inn is just one of those rare restaurants you can totally rely on. You just know the food will surprising, special and excellent and that you are in for a proper treat and a nice long, lazy, lunch...

I just can’t be doing with soul less food anymore, that’s banged up and slapped down in front of you with all the appeal of a one night stand. Nope, this is a serious love affair that getting deeper and more passionate with each new tryst, bring it on....The Wild Honey Inn is just one of the Top 10 Irish Gastro Pubs listed in my best selling Irish Travel Guide on Amazon.com Where to Eat, Sleep & Play in Ireland 2015


For more information about the Wild Honey Inn please click here

Ballinalacken Castle Hotel

Ballinalacken Castle is one of those lovely old hotels where they still have real keys rather than cards in the bedroom doors which is hardly surprising since this hotel, now in its third generation of family ownership has been a cherished holiday destination since 1941. At the end of ‘one of the most beautiful drives’ in the world (Conde Nast Traveler 2008) from Ballyvaughan to Doolin on the West Coast of Ireland this hotel is a real Hidden Gem and I am always getting lovely complimentary emails and feedback about it .... www.taylormadeireland.com

Owner Denis O’Callaghan told me of how his parents bought the house from the O’Briens who originally owned the castle next door in 1938, more for the 100 acres of land that went with it, and opened it as a hotel under the 12 bedroom scheme in 1941. In those days the hotel did not even have electricity yet visitors came from far and near by boat, train and jaunting car to stay for 2-3 weeks or a month 'to take the sea air'. Initially it was mainly Irish visitors but then English and Americans, led by Maureen O’Hara and her husband Captain Charles Blair who flew the first flying boat into Foynes Harbour just across the Shannon Estuary.

Full board was normal at the time, after all it was not like there were many options then for meals elsewhere? Which included a hearty Irish breakfast in the morning, followed by the main meal of the day ie dinner at lunchtime with high tea in the evening which was dictated by the weather. If there was squally rain blowing in from the Atlantic the frying pan would go on for a mixed grill, with plenty tea, bread and butter or if the weather was fine and warm, it was fresh salad, ham, tomatoes, boiled eggs, lettuce and scallions. Just what you might need after a day spent on the beach, out boating, hiking over the Burren or exploring the nearby historical sites, much the same as today, in fact....


Of course the menu is much more sophisticated now as modern tastes demand, but at Ballinalacken Castle, they still use the very best of local ingredients including fresh meat and fish, salads and vegetables. Artisan cheeses such as St Tola and organic smoked salmon from the Burren Smokehouse feature regularly on the menu and you will not find a more exquisite view from a dinner table anywhere in Ireland which looks out over rolling pasture, the Cliffs of Moher and the wild Atlantic Ocean. You can taste the freshness of the food, the salt of the sea and the warmth of real Irish hospitality that has been gleaned from some 70 years of pleasing their guests, now that’s something Ireland can be rightly proud of....Ballyinalacken Castle is just one of the Top 10 Irish Castle Hotels featured in my best selling Irish Travel Guide on Amazon.com Where To Eat, Sleep & Play in Ireland in 2015
For information on Ballinalacken Castle Hotel please click here.

For more Things To Do & See in Clare please click here.

Self-Drive Ireland: A Luxury Experience?

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Travelling around Ireland is a magical experience and, with globally-recognised routes such as the Wild Atlantic Way, it’s no surprise that the Emerald Isle has become such a popular destination for self-drive holidays. Each new road you discover will reveal it’s own unique character. In Ireland, the roads are safe, the drivers are courteous and the destinations are well worth the trip.

Whether you are looking to relax in the tranquil surroundings of The Beara Peninsula, take in world famous sites such as The Cliffs of Moher or enjoy the ‘craic’ with the locals on a night out in Dublin, Ireland has something that will suit everyone.

Why Self-Drive?
Self-drive tours allow visitors to take in the Irish travel experience at their own pace. Ireland is synonymous with freedom and spontaneity, suffused with the spirit of poets and writers who roamed the land in search of inspiration. A self-drive tour will give you the chance to follow in this tradition.

You can write up your own schedule, draw out your own map and still have the freedom to rip them up if something else takes your fancy. A music session taking place in a cosy thatched pub can be added instantly to your schedule or an extra night added to a particularly comfortable hotel. The privacy afforded by self-drive tours can also add peace of mind, especially to those travelling with children.

A Luxury Experience?
Perhaps too often, self-drive tours are seen as a no-frills alternative to a more luxurious escorted tour. But, particularly in the current travel climate, it really doesn’t have to be this way. First off, for a really comfortable ride, a good car hire company will be able to organise something extra special for your time on the road: from motorbikes to classic sports cars, from executive MPVs to luxury minibuses, talk to your car-hire representative to get the ultimate level of comfort for your trip.

What’s more, you don’t have to go it alone. If you fancy a few days off driving, or fancy stopping for the occasional pint of Guinness en route, you can hire an expert chauffeur/guide to show you around and answer any questions you may have about the history of a given area or the best place to spend a night.

The flexibility of a self-drive tour also allows you to budget the tour to your own specifications. In certain cases, self-drive can be cheaper than an organised bus tour, and any savings made on transport can then be put towards more luxury accommodation. To get the most out of the Irish experience there is nothing like staying overnight at the luxury castles and manor houses that are dotted around the countryside. With world famous, gourmet food and some of the most welcoming staff members anywhere on the planet adding luxury accommodation to your tour of Ireland can really elevate your experience to the next level.