Friday, March 16, 2018

Doolin - County Clare and Our Bed and Breakfast


After visiting the Cliffs of Moher it was a short drive to our destination for the evening…the Village of Doolin in County Clare.


This castle overlooking the Atlantic Ocean at the edge of the Doolin really caught our eye.  Doonagore Castle is a tower house with a walled enclosure that was built sometime in the 1500s.  In 1570 it was owned by Sir Donald (or Donnell) O’Brien.  Today it has been refurbished and it serves as a private residence….

In September of 1588, only 430 years before we visited Doolin, a ship from the Spanish Armada was wrecked just below the castle.  The High Sheriff of County Clare caught 170 survivors and hanged them all, either at the castle or at nearby Iron Age earthworks called Cnocan an Crochaire.  There could be a few ghosts still ‘hanging’ around the castle…


This is a view of Doolin from near the Castle.  As you can see, the Village is scattered over the countryside.  There is a harbor area, Fisher Street (village center), Fitz’s Cross with a hostel, campsite, 2 new hotels and a pub and Roadford with 2 more pubs, 4 restaurants, 2 hostels and a number of bed and breakfast operations.


This is the Daly House, our Bed and Breakfast where we stayed in Doolin.  It’s obviously not some ancient structure…but it was one of the most charming and well operated places where we stayed during our entire trip to both Scotland and Ireland! 


The gardens at Daly House were as well maintained and colorful as possible at the end of September… 





The bathrooms and guest rooms were immaculate and well equipped.


The views from the window in our room weren’t all bad either!  These ruins are the remnants of another tower castle…but unlike nearby Doonagore Castle, no one has saved this one as it has deteriorated.


…another view from our room.  Beautiful countryside accented by colorful homes! 


This is one of the breakfast dining areas in a glassed in atrium at Daly House.  Not too shabby!


This was our little dining nook, perfect for the 4 of us!  We had a nice view of the gardens…


This is one of the sitting rooms at Daly House.  Bill is in the foreground and our hostess, Susan Daly, is at the center. 


We had a nice conversation with Susan.  Laurie and Bonnie asked a lot of questions and we learned a lot about Doolin as well as our hostess and her bed and breakfast.


Time for breakfast!  This was the buffet set up with fruit, yogurt, etc.


In this photo I took a close-up of one end of the buffet just to show the tremendous attention to detail that Susan puts into everything she does!


Scones, bread, muffins, crackers, olives and a nice selection of cheeses on another side table…again all nicely presented.


For her breakfast, Bonnie selected Susan’s Special, top quality oatmeal with brown sugar, fruit and cream.


Bill selected the Feta Cheese and Tomato Omelet. 


Laurie enjoyed this artfully presented breakfast with scrambled cheese eggs, bacon and toast.


I went for something that I’d almost never find on a menu back in the USA.  I had this luscious plate of toast with Burren smoked salmon over scrambled eggs.  As with everything else at Daly House, the attention to detail and presentation for our breakfast was just outstanding…

We would highly recommend the Daly House for anyone visiting Doolin or the surrounding area!  It’s hard to beat excellence!  FYI, check out the Daly House on TripAdvisor.  With an amazing 1,353 reviews (only 6 guest rooms) 95% gave this bed and breakfast an excellent review.  Another 3% gave it a very good appraisal… That’s 98% amazing under any rating system!  Check this bed and breakfast out on their website.  It can be found at http://www.dalys-doolin.com/index.html.  


Back to the late afternoon of the day before we had breakfast at the Daly House Bed and Breakfast… The Daly House is located just a short walk  from the center of Doolin with it’s famous pubs…all of them featuring traditional Irish music.  

Along the way we passed another example of the stonework that continues to impress me…and this was just a shed built into the stone wall!


Then we passed this old extended stone home with attached outbuildings…


Down on the main street (R479) of Doolin, we came across another lovely looking bed and breakfast.  We preferred the super quiet location with the amazing views up the hill from the center of town.  Learn about the Parc Lodge at https://www.pairclodgedoolin.com/.


…One more photo.  Laurie took this picture of cows grazing along the cliffs overlooking the Atlantic Ocean at Doolin.  This is the way that we envisioned the west coast of Ireland!

That’s about it for this post.  In the next one, we’ll have dinner and be well entertained at a famous local pub…and take one final look around the area.

Just click on any of the photos to enlarge them…

Thanks for stopping by for a visit!

Take Care, Big Daddy Dave

3 comments:

  1. The breakfast meals all look very good - even the oatmeal.

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  2. Awesome, awesome post again, friend Dave ... so love to travel with you this way ... although I must say that I never liked Bed and Breakfast ... cuz I find the owners to be a bit too intrusive and protective of their property, eg. the last we stayed with must have been in our apartment every time we were out ... rearranging pillows and emptying garbage and restocking the fridge and things ... I did not like that, hmmm ... ya ... but anyway ... Happy St Patrick's Day, eh? ... Love, cat.

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  3. Picture of the cows in the field is awesome!

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