More Photos

As my parents retired out to County Roscommon 7 years ago, I have visited the area many times, but in the past have usually stayed with them in their remote cottage. This trip was a surprise for my Dad's birthday, so we booked into a B&B near where they would be celebrating his birthday and a hotel in the seaside town of Westport for a few nights before heading down to stay with them.

We flew from Gatwick to Knock with Aer Lingus in a shiny new plane and picked up an equally new car and headed off to a delightful B&B in a village by the name of Kilalla just an hour north west. Avondale B&B is run by a terrific lady called Maria, who helped us in advance with our surprise visit. The location of the house is perfect as it overlooks Kilalla Bay itself, literally just across the road and is a lovely village as well. We surprised my parents (in disguise) in the upstairs restaurant of The Arch Bar, an absolute gem of a find. We had followed them from the B&B and they never recognised us at all! The meal was delightful and we enjoyed the rest of my Dad's birthday.

After a hearty breakfast made by Maria, we headed a bit further NW to Ballycastle to see the Ceide Fields (pronounced Kay-der). This is an archaeological site with a lovely visitors centre, which I am delighted to report did NOT have the usual tourist shop! They did however, have a couple of exhibitions inside as well a short film in a little cinema giving the history of these fields. This area is a wild and unspoilt bog-land coast with fabulous views from the fields. This is the most extensive Stone Age Monument in the world, and dates back around 5000-6000 years - that's before even the Pyramids of Gisa! We took the guided walk and tour up into the fields, and I have to say that I found it really interesting. If you are in the vicinity of Ceide Fields, you must take the time to do this place.

After our visit here we were heading south west to Westport. It’s a lovely Irish town not far from the sea and we parked up and checked into our charming hotel The Wyatt. I chose this hotel because it was an original old building and is right in the town, so we could leave the car parked after our days out, and walk to one of the many restaurants for dinner. The first night we ate at The Sage restaurant, 2 minutes walk from the hotel, and enjoyed another great meal in a small but full Italian Irish restaurant.

The next day we headed off to visit Achill Island. But sadly the weather defeated all chance of enjoying the many stunning (and empty) blue flag beaches on this island (reached by road). The scenery is barren in places, and in some parts there were more sheep than people, which is fine by me and the stunning Atlantic waves crashing against the cliffs are breathtaking. The cloud was so low that we were mainly driving through it all day, and when I stopped to take pictures from the clifftops, I had to really plant my feet firmly to avoid being blown over! I have over the years got used to the Irish weather, which can change in a moment, and even when it is the middle of July visitors should come prepared for all four seasons in one day!

That night we had an excellent meal in the hotel's JW's Brassiere , and I have to say it was an excellent deal as well, they offer a 3 course meal for two including a bottle of wine for just 60 euros! As it is never 'cheap' to eat out in Ireland, we found this excellent value for money and it was a very enjoyable meal too!

The final day of our little tour was spent heading south east, with a stop at another interesting place – Strokestown Park, a country house with history and gardens as well as a famine museum on site. We managed to get onto a tour of the house, which has so many of the original family’s belongings still in situ (including a very old dogs bed in the masters bedroom!) and although they were busy that day with a couple of coach tours, we very much enjoyed our time here, and our history lesson.