Dear firstname,
Ireland recently suffered bad press for being not so green and for having a high carbon footprint. However, those critics are not taking the time to see all the good things that are going on. The growth of ecotourism businesses, the fine array of low carbon activities, and the availability of many slow travel options to Ireland. Sometimes they just have to look harder, which is what we have had the chance to do.
So we've found 50 of Ireland's best ecoescapes, North and South. Not only that but we've made a new book - the second in our new series - which celebrates the acheivements of Ireland's green businesses and provides readers with inspiration for Slow Travel throughout the country.
The author of ecoescape Ireland is Catherine Mack - an Irish travel writer, specialising in responsible tourism and writing a regular column, Ethical Traveller in the Irish Times as well as other UK papers such as The Observer and The Guardian. Catherine travelled the length and breadth of the country and put together 50 of the greenest ecoescapes she could find. Below are five of her favourite.
You can get hold of copies of ecoescape, Ireland and UK, by visiting our website. You can also buy both for £14.98, and save yourself £3. Use the code ecoIreland, for free P&P for all orders of ecoescape.
We also have a launch party in Dublin on 4 June. If you'd like to celebrate with us, email laura@ecoescape.org for an invitation.
Before then, we'll be at Camden Green Fair this Sunday 1 June, come and visit us there.
Happy ecoescapes
Laura
www.ecoescape.org
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Catherine Mack is the author of ecoescape: Ireland. Having travelled the length and breadth of her home country, Catherine chose 50 ecoescapes to profile in the book including places to stay and visit in the North and South. You can buy a copy for £8.99 (RRP €11.69) from our website. Use the code ecoIreland, for free P&P. Here are 5 of Catherine's favourite ecoescapes in the Republic and Northern Ireland.
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Delphi might be a motor-free adventure centre, but the manager and co-owner, Rory Concannon, is firing on all cylinders. He has rescued this treasure in the Delphi Valley from receivership, and has spent the last two years revamping it to precise ethical standards. An ecoescape extraordinaire, this stone and wooden building is nestled between two contrasting stretches of water, Killary Harbour and the Bundorragha River. Activities include kayaking, cycling, archery, hill-walking, surfing, rock-climbing and raft-building.
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A lakeland retreat on its own forested island, this fishing haven is only seconds’ walk from the shores of Lough Oughter, with boats you could almost fall out of your bed into in the morning. The decked terrace overlooks not only Lough Oughter, but also the ruins of a thirteenth century Abbey, home to the earliest inhabitants here, monks from the Order of Premontre. Tom, the generous owner, has worked to prevent its total collapse, typical of his generous spirit. He has also installed a windmill and solar panels to generate electricity, and replanted 200 acres with indigenous broadleaf Oaks, Ash and Larch.
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A white Connemara pony greeted us at Cnoc Suain, high up in the boglands overlooking Spiddal. Neptune, the family pony, stood casually outside the white-washed thatched cottage, as if posing for a clichéd, outdated postcard. But there is nothing clichéd or outdated here. Cnoc Suain, overlooking its own Cnoch a Loch, is in its own league of uniqueness, charm and beauty. Charlie and Dearbhaill, the owners of this homestead, have almost single-handedly rebuilt and thatched four dry-stone wall cottages, installed geothermal underfloor heating, and furnished them in a traditional, simple, and comfortable way.
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Just follow the smoke signals over County Fermanagh to the best eco-camping in Ireland. They will lead you to a tipi on Orchard Acre Farm, where we all tucked up under a traditional North American Indian canvas, with wood-burning brazier as its centre piece. Here, Teresa O’Hare, who runs this exquisite ecoescape, has carefully crafted the perfect recipe for incorporating her passions in life: cooking, hospitality and Fermanagh. There is one tipi, ideal for a family of four or five. This is not tipi-chic, but still good earthy camping, with gravel surface, gas-burning stove, but all done in a cute and thoughtful way.
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Bellinter House is located only five kilometres from the Hill of Tara which, tradition has it was the seat of the ancient Kings of Ireland. If ever there was an Irish King of restoration, Jay Bourke should be crowned. His recently restored early 18th Century Palladian house is a coup of restoration and conservation. The previous owners of this huge elegant mansion were nuns and there is still a hint of modest, sparse design at Bellinter, to the point of being almost functional. But this, for Bourke, was all about conservation. Just about every piece of furniture here is recycled, refurbished, rebuilt, reupholstered and utterly resplendent. Old velour sofas perch on restored pitch pine floorboards.
For more ecoescape inspiration in Ireland, order a copy of the book for £8.99! Use the code ecoIreland for free P&P. Click here
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If you'd like a free copy of the original ecoescape from 2007, take 10 minutes to answer our survey and we'll send you a copy in the post. Be quick, as we've only got a few copies left. Click here
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