Castles, Gardens and Rugged Coastline – Ireland’s Awesome Beauty
I have become a believer in the
‘luck of the Irish’. On a recent tour of the southwest of that green island, I
lost a twenty euro bill, and found it stuck inside my touring map. A random
choice of pubs for lunch in Glengarriff resulted in the best seafood chowder I
have ever enjoyed, and, against all odds, I snapped a photo of an Irish castle
that will forever be my tangible memory of Ireland.
I had been trying to get a good
photograph of historic Dromoland
Castle but every time I
reached for my camera, the sun disappeared and it would begin to rain. Not rain exactly, more like a light mist,
what the Irish call ‘soft’ weather.
So I had little hope as I headed
out in the fog to tour the grounds. An hour later, returning to the castle via
a curving path that wound around the famous golf course on the property, I
emerged from the trees at the exact moment that the sky cleared and the sun lit
up the castle. The light lasted only long enough for me to take a few pictures,
before the clouds descended again. I
felt I had been in the right place at the right moment – Irish luck.
Even in the mist, Dromoland Castle
Hotel is dramatic.
This five star property is a short 12
k from Shannon Airport and the perfect place to unwind
after a long flight. It’s also an ideal
starting point for a driving tour of the southwest of Ireland.
Driving the Irish roads is less
intimidating than it used to be – many roads have been widened, and there are modern
multi-lane highways that can get you where you want to go quickly and easily.
But in Ireland,
getting there is not the point, and the Ireland you want to experience
won’t be found along the freeways. You need to take the winding roads that lead
you along the coastline, through the mountains, and into the villages where
pubs lure you into stopping for a pint or two and lush gardens seduce you into
long walks.
On a drive along the Irish coast
this Spring, from Shannon to Cork
City, I followed the
quieter roads. With minimal planning and
some Irish luck, these roads took me to seaside towns that each possessed a
character and a story.
Knightstown, on Valentia Island,
partway along the Ring of Kerry, is a tidy little village that borders the
harbour. This is a summer holiday place,
with water sports, fishing and boating. It
is best known as the place where the Transatlantic Cable was completed.
You can take the ferry from
Knightstown to the Skellig
Islands, with Skellig
Michael the most captivating. Rocky and forbidding, this jagged island was home
at one time to a group of ascetic monks who craved the isolation and austerity
that the islands promised, for their spiritual health. The remains of their
monastery, abandoned in the 12th century, are a compelling and sobering
vision of the monastic life that would once have been lived here, but the climb
up rocky steps can be challenging, and the trip out to the islands can only be
made in good weather. The island is a
Unesco World Heritage site.
After an island adventure, The
Moorings in Portmagee is the place to warm up by the fire. You can spend the night in a room with a
harbour view, enjoy great seafood and maybe spend a few hours in the Bridge Bar
with a glass or two of Guiness,listening to the locals make music. You could
even join in, if you know a song or can carry a tune.
Waterville is a small town further along the
coast that boasts one of the best golf courses in the country, - Tiger Woods
comes here to golf and fish, silent film star Charlie Chaplin lived here for
years, Barrack Obama has visited and Richard Nixon hid out in Waterville House
after his disgrace.
“Seventeen U.S. presidents have roots in Ireland,” my
Irish friend, Byron, tells me.
Kenmare is a serene town comprised
of quiet streets lined with colourful shops and cottages. There is a stone
circle and a haunting fairy tree, under which unbaptised babies were
traditionally buried in the past. Visitors still leave little tokens tied
to the trees for luck, and to appease the fairies.
“Be careful to speak quietly when
you are near the tree – the fairies don’t like to be disturbed, and they are
notoriously dangerous when they aren’t happy,” Byron warns me.
In the centre of town is the Park
Hotel Kenmare, whose grounds are a gardener’s delight, with green sloping lawns
leading down to the bay and paths lined with rhododendron and azalea.
For an inland diversion, head out from
Kenmare through Moll’s Gap to Killarney
National Park, where you
can boat along the lakes and hike the McGillycuddy’s Reeks, or take a jaunting
car through the Gap of Dunloe.
East along the coast from Kenmare is
Baltimore, where the town’s castle is worth a
tour, to hear the story of Barbary pirates who
raided the village in 1631. If you take the local ferry out to Sherkin Island , you can tour the ruins of a
Franciscan abbey, walk the island or visit one of the two pubs.
In Bantry
Bay, in the sheltered harbour of Glengarriff,
you’ll find Garinish
Island which is home to a
subtropical garden property. The gardens
were designed by Harold Peto and are lushly beautiful in every season. When I visited in Spring, the rhodos and
azaleas were in full bloom.
A few miles from the coast, in the
country near Skibbereen, is Liss Ard, another hotel gem with famous gardens.
This estate, a remarkable mash-up of classic country house design and
contemporary aesthetics, is known for its extensive gardens that occupy 150
acres around the hotel. The centrepiece of the gardens is James Turrell’s Sky
Garden Crater, a green experience that is both memorable and almost surreal. If
you descend the crater and lie on your back on the stone plinth in the centre,
your view of the sky and the grassy bowl of the crater’s sides is otherworldly,
especially at dawn or dusk.
I stopped in Kinsale to visit the
wine museum in Desmond Castle and to sample the seafood and then headed for
Shannagarry and Ballymaloe House.
This lovely property near the end
of my drive is a quiet retreat, a country manor that feels like home - or how
home would feel if mommy were Lady Ballymaloe.
Each room in the hotel is
different and unpretentiously comfortable.
I’m in the Flower Room, with a view of the walled garden. The big draw
at Ballymaloe is the dining room, reknown for its cuisine and for its
dedication to local products and producers. The hotel is run by Allen family. Just down the road is the Ballymaloe Cookery
School, run by more
Allens, cookbook author and chef Darina and her daughter Rachel. You can take
cooking classes, walk in the extensive grounds, enjoy peaceful hikes to the
coastal cliffs or plan a visit to the Jameson Distillery for a whisky tasting.
For a change of pace, spend a day
or two in Cork,
a bustling and prosperous city with its well known English Farmers Market. The Hayfield Manor Hotel is a serene pocket of
gardens and sophistication in the middle of the city, situated next to the
university where guests are welcome to walk through the quadrangle and enjoy
the campus.
Blarney Castle and the Titanic Museum
are nearby.
And with a bit of Irish luck, you
will come back again.
If You Go
While you could depend on Irish
luck to help you find your way, the Irish Tourist Board has excellent maps and
driving routes, complete with not-to-be-missed highlights, dining suggestions
and available accommodation choices. Visit www.ireland.com
for more information.
www.dromoland.ie
www.parkkenmare.com
www.hayfieldmanor.ie
