Open the door, stroll onto the deck and have a front row seat to the entertaining plethora of birds that call the River Ilen home.
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watching the world go by… takes on a completely different meaning when you view it from Teach Iasc. Set down a country boreen, surrounded by fields on one side and the river on the other there is plenty to enjoy right on your doorstep. Enjoy the sound of water running from the pond into the river and, if you’re into wildlife (especially feathered birds), you’re in for a real treat! Egrets, plovers, lapwings, to name but a few, following the tide, swallows and house martins swooping low or the cormorants eating their supper – if you’re lucky enough to be here when the ducklings are whizzing about you’d think we’d wound them up! And…no binoculars required! Do bring kayaks if you have them and pootle about to your hearts content. Get your timing right and paddle to the pub or pick up milk in Skibbereen… for the truly adventurous head down to Baltimore for a lazy lunch and back in time for tea! The seals will be only to delighted to accompany you. Irish Water Sports hire out ribs and sailing boats, offering courses down in Baltimore, or if you’re a confident sailor they’ll deliver them to the door. Children can fish for crabs (for racing not eating!), run around the garden or explore the river bank. BBQ outside, toast marshmallows on a shoreline bonfire made from collected driftwood – simple, carefree fun that comes for free. In the surrounding countryside to the west and north of the cottage donkeys, sheep and horses graze happily on the small farm and are partial to the odd apple or two, although we don’t like to encourage them into the cottage! All volunteers welcome if we need to bottle feed the lambs! Teach Iasc is a haven of peace and tranquility – a bolt hole of inspiration for painters, writers and photographers. Its well worth bringing your telescope for star gazing and, if its the right time of year, you’ll be knocked out by the night-time scent of the pittisporum as you view Mars. Not quite on the doorstep but a mere 10 minute car ride away you can watch the sun-set down at the local Kilkaleen beach (we’re convinced these are the warmest waters in West Cork – so must the ‘mad’ people who swim there every morning of the year!). Kilcoe Castle literally glows in the evening sunshine and the seals calling like sirens just add to the atmosphere. Or climb Loch Hyne hill for a 360 degree vista of islands and seven townland church spires – then cool off in Loch Hyne (Europe’s largest salt water lake) and snorkel for starfish. Tragumna beach, across the other side of Skibbereen, is a very safe, family friendly beach reached by a rollercoaster of a hill with stunning views. These are merely snippets of what can be found very locally and we’ll be happy to guide you to find many more. |
