‘North Clare and the Burren blew my mind’

One summer, many years ago when I was 17, I met a Dutch girl in a pub who was backpacking around Ireland. She said she was staying in hostels and was off to Doolin in County Clare the next day. Somehow, I hadn’t realised it was that easy to strike out and see the world. The next morning I took the bus to Doolin and began a lifelong love of independent travel and the open road. I never saw the Dutch girl again despite a full search of every pub in the village.

North Clare and the Burren blew my 17-year-old mind. I still remember the extraordinary quality of the light as it burst through the tapestry of clouds looking out across the limestone fields to the Aran Islands. There’s an air about the place. The area attracted woolly hat-wearing traditional musicians and every village seemed to have a pottery studio. The next summer I got a job pulling pints in a hotel in Lisdoonvarna and days off were spent hitchhiking the backroads of the Burren, taking in the majesty of the rocky landscape.

One of those trips brought me to Ennistymon, a vibrant market town known for its beautiful shopfronts and the thundering waters of the Inagh river as it makes its way over the ridge of the Cascades rocks. Returning to this special little town over the years, I have watched it become more diverse and attract a whole new demographic of passionate people committed to developing the community sustainably for locals and visitors alike. The only upshot of soaring city rents is that some small towns like Ennistymon are now thriving and bucking the trend of rural decline.

On a recent trip, my eyes were drawn to a line of wind turbines drawn across the crest of a hill to the south of the town. Pulling into the Falls hotel in the centre of Ennistymon a sign announces proudly that this is a carbon-neutral property. The clever owners have installed a turbine in the river that generates 90% of their electricity. The dancer and writer Caitlin MacNamara’s family once owned this towering house – Caitlin was married to the Welsh poet Dylan Thomas until his death in 1953.

Sinead Ní Gháirbhith opened the CheesePress on the town’s main street in 2017 ostensibly to sell cheese but in reality it’s where her customers come for their social fix with this one-woman powerhouse who could easily give the Fall’s generator a run for its money. She’s off at her new shop in Doolin when I call in for a coffee but her staff update me on the latest projects in the town.

Hometree is one of those new kids on the block, a tree-planting charity on the outskirts of the town, where Ray Ó Foghlú walks me through his polytunnel filled with thousands of organically grown native saplings. Ireland is the most deforested country in Europe, and Hometree is on a mission to reverse that by planting 4,000 acres of woodland at sites across the west coast. Visitors are welcome to take part in tree-planting and forest restoration sessions every month.

I pick up another coffee and a custard tart from Hugo’s bakery in Lahinch before heading to Common Knowledge just outside Lisdoonvarna. Fionn Kidney and Harrison Gardner give me a tour of the social enterprise’s community-financed, 50- acre site where residential courses in sustainable building practices are taught. This is where people with few practical building skills learn how to handle power tools, cement mixers and eco insulation materials. The group is heavily invested in the local community and has begun working on a vision to regenerate nearby Lisdoonvarna as a hub for North Clare.

Later, I follow the coast south towards Spanish Point for dinner at the recently refurbished Armada hotel, the only hotel in Ireland with B Corp status, an accreditation that promotes social and environmental responsibility. Owner John Burke walks us through Aileen’s restaurant to our table overlooking the Atlantic. Some of the delicious food we eat comes from the hotel’s own farm and much of the rest is sourced within 80km, including Flaggy Shore oysters which were a favourite of Henry VIII.

The next morning I’m invited for coffee with Triona Lillis, a fashion designer with the Tweed Project, who offers an insight into why so many creative people are attracted to North Clare. She tells me that by 1895 over 20,000 visitors a year were drawn to the spa at nearby Lisdoonvarna for its iron-rich waters, so the area has a long history of welcoming people, which has led to an open-minded and tolerant community.

By way of example, Aoibheann McNamara is in the throes of a green-makeover of a nearby property to create Summerage, a space for retreats with an organic garden to supply Ardbia, her restaurant in Galway. She recommends that I check out recently opened Homestead Cottage for lunch (three-course Sunday lunch from €45).

The 200-year-old Homestead Cottage comes into view a few minutes on from the Cliffs of Moher and chef Robbie McCauley and his wife, Sophie, welcome me into their restaurant for one of the best meals I’ve had in Ireland – lentil and smoked bacon veloute followed by wild hake, mussels and jerusalem artichoke. They grow their own vegetables and afterwards Robbie takes me on a drive through the Caher Valley pointing out the warmed limestone hills where livestock spend the winter. The road back along the coast through Fanore is astonishingly beautiful and I can understand why Robbie has traded in the bright lights of London and Edinburgh for this westerly outpost.

That evening I return to Doolin to considerably fancier lodgings than my hostel bunk all those years ago. When it opened, Hotel Doolin was Ireland’s first carbon-neutral hotel and I’m here to try Glas restaurant where all the food is sourced within a 30-mile radius of the hotel. Nine courses come my way. You would think the native lobster or the line-caught mackerel would be the highlights of this local feast but a bowl of potatoes cooked in brown butter and finished in the fire is the standout dish. Annie and Ronan, the growers of these superstar spuds, are at the next table.

Rain comes overnight and a light drizzle obscures the view as I make my way south to White Strand for a 10-second swim followed by a welcome thaw in the barrel sauna perched at the top of the beach. Sauna Suaimhneas moves around to several locations along this coast making sea swimming a year-round possibility for their grateful followers.

Many of Ireland’s small towns had some fallow years after the 2008 financial crisis. Witnessing North Clare continuing to evolve and thrive gives me hope that the country’s future will be less city-focused and that young people will have the choice to stay and live rich lives in their own communities.

I still have a scar on my back caused by a wayward mattress spring from that summer in the early 90s spent tending bar in Lisdoonvarna. This corner of Clare doesn’t leave you. Seamus Heaney describes the area best in his poem Postscript, it catches “the heart off-guard and blows it open”.

Fergal McCarthy was hosted by tourismireland.com. Falls hotel has doubles from €170, fallshotel.ie; Armada hotel has doubles from €180, armadahotel.com; Hotel Doolin has doubles from €175, tasting menu from €65, hoteldoolin.ie