Ireland : One man’s view

Almost forty million Americans claim Irish ancestry…….that somewhere back in their lineage there is an Ireland connection. In many respects this is not surprising when you consider that during the years of the Great Famine in the mid 19^th century a million Irish people immigrated to the USA. This trend of immigrating to the Land of Opportunity continued right up until very recently when the need receded due to the thriving Irish economy and record levels of highly paid, highly skilled employment back home.

If you are thinking of visiting Ireland this year or indeed any time in the near future these Ireland cottages are in an absolute must visit location. They are perched on a cliff top in west Donegal, nestled snugly into the Donegal rockscape and commanding panoramic views of sea, mountain and off-shore islands. It is no exaggeration to say that when you crest that driveway and drink in your first delighted impressions you will wonder have you found a little bit of Heaven at the end of that magic rainbow.

It is important to remember that not all Ireland holiday cottages capture that quaint “turn the clock back” concept that is so appealing to American tourists to Ireland and which is the hallmark of these authentic Irish holiday cottages. Much of the development taking place in Ireland today, while welcome in a broad sense, fails to make that emotional connection with the traditional thatched cottage concept that is synonymous with a way of life that has indeed died away and will never be again.

As you make your way through the Irish countryside you will be amazed at the phenomenal changes that have taken place in the Emerald Isle over the last fifteen years or so. Modern new Irish cottages seem to be springing up everywhere. There are many city dwellers, and indeed many visitors to Ireland, who bemoan the fact that the beautiful scenery of the west of Ireland has been intruded upon by these often modern cottage developments.  However there are many others, particularly rural dwellers themselves, who welcome these holiday cottages in Ireland and see them as a vibrant sign of life, compared to the depressing days of mass emigration and high unemployment when new brightly painted cottages in Ireland were a rare sight indeed and were more likely to have been replaced by crumbling walls and boarded windows.

Many American visitors to Ireland make the mistake of confining themselves to the traditional and established tourist resorts such as Killarney and Connemara, which are now inclined to be somewhat over-crowded and commercialised. They would be well rewarded if they were a bit more adventurous and considered venturing further north to stay in holiday cottages in Donegal. County Donegal is in the extreme northwest of Ireland and besides being truly spectacular is also the least commercialised county in Ireland.

As in other parts of Ireland not all Donegal holiday cottages capture that special something that touches a chord in the heart of Irish Americans and offers them that satisfying emotional experience that they are looking for. In truth only a traditional thatched cottage really fills that need. Perhaps it is an echo back to the Great Famine or perhaps the memory of stories about the Old Country handed down through the generations.

Of all the cottages in Donegal it is our view that Donegal Thatched Cottages, Cruit Island, Kincasslagh, best captures that elusive emotional connection that Irish Americans are seeking. These Donegal cottages are a rare jewel that will delight the visitor and send him home satisfied that he has indeed made that emotional connection with his past ancestry.

There is a very special feeling about sleeping under a thatched roof. Perhaps it goes back to our peasant roots when all our ancestors lived in small mud walled thatched cottages. Either way, at Donegal Thatched Cottages you will sleep like a baby and wake up to the warbling of the lark, ready for an early morning stroll on a deserted sandy beach.