TRAVEL

Home & Away with Robert WalsheLiving

New figures showed tour-ism to Ireland has grown from all the main market areas, led by North America and continental europe. Ireland enjoyed the strong-est first quarter from North America since 2004 and the strongest ever first quarter from Australia and develop-ing markets. Comparing the first quarter of 2013 with the same three months in 2012, there were 1.25m trips to Ireland, up 7.4pc. Visits from North America were up 16.7pc at 168,800. Visits from Mainland europe were up by 13pc (444,000 visits), with very strong perform-ances from Nordic countries (up 31pc), France (up 27pc), Benelux (up 10pc), Germany (up 10pc)

Weekend Hotspot – Longueville House

www.longuevillehouse.ie

Longueville House in Mal-low Co Cork is very much a family affair run by william O’Callaghan, who is the chef, and his wife Aisling, who manages front of house. The property is perfect for those looking for that elegant Irish country house experience. You can tell that the owners have great pride in what they are delivering here as the gar-dens are beautifully kept and the house itself absolutely splendid. The property built by the Longfield family in 1720 is Georgian with ornate Italian-designed ceilings, a marble dining-room man-telpiece, inlaid mahogany doors, newly refurbished cellars and an equally im-pressive full-height staircase. To the right of the main fa-cade you’ll find an authentic Victorian conservatory of curved ironwork. The family tells us that it was added in 1866 by Richard Turner, the greatest ironmaster and de-signer of glasshouses of the Victorian era. william men-tioned earlier is a descend-ant of the original owner

Donough O’Callaghan who fought alongside the Catho-lics after the collapse of the 1641 Rebellion. This his-torical connection is very clearly seen throughout with family heirlooms. and period furniture. Longueville has 20 sumptuous country house style bedrooms all ensuite with direct dial telephone, TV and radios. The Presi-dents’ Restaurant is at the heart of Longueville, and

the menu comes straight from the estate. Relais & Chateau trained william O Callaghan is one of Ireland’s most gifted chefs and it’s a pleasure to see a truly origi-nal talent at work. He sources produce such as fresh salmon in season, the famous Longueville lamb and all the fruit and vegetables from the nearby farm, gardens and markets. These are expertly prepared by a dedicated team and it’s heartening to see Irish customer service & standards to the fore. An extensive wine list of old and new world wines is also on offer and the Presidents Res-taurant is open nightly for residents and visitors.

Longueville House Apple Brandy and Cider was first developed by the late Michael O’Callaghan back in 1998. A pioneering spirit he planted 20 acres of Dabinett and Michelin cider apples at the north-west side of the property.

This project has now come full circle with the next gen-eration of O Callaghan’s de-veloping an amazing product for export. The apples are harvested from extensive or-chards after being crushed and pressed in an oak cider machine on the Longueville farm. Dan Duggan Head Dis-tiller and cider maker has been with the family for 34 years. Other mentors in-volved include David Quinn, Head Distiller at Jameson and Michael O’Donnell, re-tired head cider maker at Bulmer’s. Aisling and wil-

liam like their events and are the most genial & welcoming hosts. They encourage activities all year and highlights in-clude last weeks dawn chorus, the mushroom hunt in October also con-certs and evening suppers in summer and festive theme dinners in winter and Christmas.

The Blackwater River running through the estate offers salmon and brown trout fishing to guests and horse lovers will find the Duhallow Hunt and the Cork racecourse at Mallow more reason to visit. Longueville House is an ideal base for touring the south-west and nearby Mallow is a busy mar-ket town.

The remains of Mallow Cas-tle date from the 12th century while the ruins of St Anne’s church are from the late 13th century. My favourite North Cork town Millstreet is an area rich in archaeological heritage. The Museum has a tourist information centre and nearby the country park with 500 acres of ameni-ties offers an arboretum, gardens, lakes, waterfalls, walks, a picnic area, a visitor centre, restaurant and shop. Two nights accommodation

with dinner on one evening for two guests in-cluding country house break-fast served both mornings is from €435 based on two persons sharing in Queen or King Room. Optional Extra €15 Tasting Menu Sup-plement applies per person. www.longuevillehouse.ie

Deal of the Week If you are thinking of explor-

ing the great outdoors this summer why not head west to the beau-tiful, family owned and run, Old Ground Hotel in ennis Co. Clare. Comb-ing great food, stunning scenery and luxurious accommodation, The Old Ground is a great base from which to explore the west. The

hotel itself is a beauti-ful manor house which dates from the 18th century and of-fers luxurious 4-star accom-modation in the heart of the bustling town of ennis. An eclectic hotel, it combines old world charm with con-temporary facilities yet still remains true to the heritage of the building. Original art work adorns the walls while open turf fires and sumptu-ous fabrics create a wonder-

ful homely feel. The hotel is famous for its fantastic food and lively bar which regu-larly hosts live traditional music sessions. The hotel has an amazing package ‘The escape If Just for One Night’ offer is priced from €89 per person sharing and includes one night’s luxurious ac-commodation with full Irish breakfast, afternoon tea and a bottle of house wine in your room. On top of this you can choose an early check in or a late check out as well as a complimentary newspa-per. www.flynnhotels.com

Robert Walshe is a travel broadcaster with Q Radio Network & Travel Editor for numerous print & on-line publications on the island of Ireland. www.robertwalshe.com

Pet’s Corner... with Kathleen Murray

Home and Away ExtraThe popular Irish Shindig Nights returned

to the Old Jameson Distillery earlier this month with an unprecedented sell-out first weekend. The ticket sales reflect a grow-ing demand for the traditional Irish nights, which will run from now until October. The package includes a guided tour of the dis-tillery, a complimentary glass of the finest Irish whiskey, exceptional live entertain-ment and a four course meal cooked with fresh Irish ingredients. The Irish Shindig

Nights begin with a guided tour, which of-fers recreated distillery scenes taking visi-tors through the seven stages of whiskey making. The tour is followed by a signa-ture Jameson drink in the bar at Old Jame-son Distillery. Renowned musicians the Jameson Players perform their mix of modern and traditional Irish music after dinner while the Claddagh Dancers bring an exhilarating energy to the performance www.tours.jamesonwhiskey.com

n The O Callaghan family at Longueville House, Mallow, Co Cork.

n Jameson Whiskey,

n Longueville House Irish Apple Brandy.

THIS is an important story for people to read. It has many lessons in it and may help people to understand what life is like for a dog when their owner dies. Jess is five-years old and was raised on a farm.

She is a Collie and is a work-ing sheepdog. She worked on the farm in the daytime and was a much-valued pet in the evening. Jess and her three-year old pup worked together and lived together all day everyday and life was good. They got their dinners every evening, a walk at 7pm, some fun time with their owners and two digestive biscuits as a treat at bedtime every night.

They were much-loved dogs and very well taken care of. One day, out of the blue, tragedy struck. The farmer was working with bales of hay and fell from

the top of them to the ground. Tragically, he died. Jess and the pup were with him at the time and saw it all happen.

As it is the lambing season the ewe’s were all giving birth. The farmer’s wife worked away from home but in the evenings she helped on the farm. when she came home from work that evening she got changed and went out to find her hus-band to give him a hand. She got a terrible shock when she discovered him lying on the ground with the two dogs lying beside him. The dogs stayed with him out of loyalty to their master and also to keep him warm with their body heat.

Unfortunately, it was too late for help. As Jess was the first dog she was more closely bonded to her owner.

The farmers wife thought

that it was better for the dogs if they were not around for the wake so she let them go to her brother-in-law’s farm. Jess refused to go. She would not leave.

She stayed at home and was there for everything that hap-pened. As dogs mourn the same as us for their losses it was a hard time for Jess. She had lost one of her owners, she had lost her pup and her remaining owner was in deep mourning so it was a very sad time all round. During the quiet days after the funeral Jess and her owner started their new life alone together.

Things were very different for both of them and both of them were feeling a big sense of loss. Her owner was still in shock and not sure what to feel and Jess was out in the

fields looking for her owner and her pup. everyone felt the loss. As the weeks went by Jess had to learn to get used to a lead and get into a car, lots of new experiences.

She had never been on a lead before as she was a work-ing farm dog and there was no need for a lead. Her owner found that Jess was not taking this well and was not eating properly so she was worried. when I met them both for the first time I felt the sense of loss for both of them. It was easy to see that there was still shock and tragedy.

The owner wanted help with Jess as Jess was all she had left that was close to her husband. They had been married 23 years and there were no chil-dren. Just them and the dogs.

I decided to keep Jess for a

bit to help her to readjust to a new life and give her owner a chance to readjust to her new life. Together they were keep-

ing each other back because the tragedy was all they had. Jess has now adjusted to being a full-time pet. She’s walking on a lead, travels well in the car, is not afraid to jump in or out and is eating better. She is coming out of her mourning and will be now able to help her owner to do the same in time.

Dogs normally mourn for a couple of weeks and then they pick up and move on but it was difficult for Jess as she was dealing with too much at the same time. She had be-come the centre of the mourn-ing as her owner depended on her company to help her so she couldn’t get back to normality again. Her owner is doing really well now, coming to terms with all that has hap-pened and is braving a new life with the help of Jess.

Jess’s story – a thought provoking read

n Jess