Sunsetting over Cahersiveen town at the foot of Beentee mountain My first encounter with Cahersiveen was almost 4 years ago when the local secondary school, Coláiste na Sceilge attended the cookery school I was working in. You couldn’t but remark on the great attitude from all the students & it was clear throughout the day the happy & relaxed relationship they had with their teachers. It was thanks to kind words of encouragement from this school’s S.N.A that I (more…)

With the stars aligning, I’ve managed to spend more time at Derrynane and get to know this magnificently beautiful area better. I will start off by coming clean; I am very much a newbie to these parts and while there are families that have connections to this area going back generations – and would prefer to keep it all to themselves! – I’m struggling to keep it a secret! Though school summer holidays will be (more…)

Derrynane harbour, surrounded by Abbey Island. Lamb’s head behind and Beara in the background. I’ll never forget the first time I clapped eyes on Derrynane Bay. Having spent a few years living the high life(literally, at 40,000ft) travelling the world, I came back home just in time to witness the tail end of the Celtic Tiger and with a curiosity to explore more of the green, green grass of home. Taking every opportunity to hop (more…)

If you are doing the Ring of Kerry, then please, please, please turn west and include the Skelligs Ring too. The sheer volume of scenery would fill a weeks holiday alone on this mini-ring. While there are a few options when it comes to choosing a base for this area, Portmagee is a well served village and is the gateway for tours of the Skelligs Rocks. Portmagee is also one of my favourite places to (more…)

All the mist & fog in the world couldn’t stop me from missing out on walking this amazing trail! Determined to get another Kerry Way walk in, we had agreed that the following Sunday would be our opportunity. When the alarm went off and I saw the heavy fog and mist that was down, I must’ve fallen back asleep because the next thing I knew it was 9:30am – the time we had agreed to (more…)

Along the beginning of the Kerry Way from Waterville – Caherdaniel Meeting a fellow walker this summer gave me an opportunity to get out and do some more of the Kerry Way – yay! We made a plan to do the section from Waterville to Caherdaniel and benefitted from a very kind offer of a lift to our start point. I’m one of these walkers that like to do a walk without having to do (more…)

Sunrise from the Royal Hotel Valentia, Knightstown. If you visit the Valentia Island website (www.valentiaisland.ie) you will read “Sometimes when we visit a place the first thing we realise is that we should have planned to stay a while. You will get that feeling here on arrival – don’t fight that feeling …” and on my first visit to Valentia, this happened me! Now, on any trip to the Iveragh peninsula, I will do my (more…)

Now first of all, let it be known that I have previously worked here at Dromquinna Manor… so why am I choosing to write about it then? Because to me Dromquinna sums up exactly what I hope to achieve with this website – to showcase the very best that Ireland has to offer, especially our food and great outdoors. That is exactly what Dromquinna is all about – great food and Kerry’s great outdoors – (more…)