Ireland (Lonely Planet, 9th Edition) - Fionn Davenport [230]
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Located on Dunmanus Bay, Good Things Café ( 027-61426; www.thegoodthingscafe.com; Ahakista Rd; lunch mains €10-20, dinner mains €21-38; 12.30-3pm & 7-9pm Thu-Mon mid-Jun–Dec) is a haven for foodies. The restaurant serves great contemporary dishes made with organic, locally sourced ingredients; think everything from a fluffy omelette with locally smoked haddock to grilled lobster. Tables on a vast terrace have views of nervous sheep. Popular cooking courses include a two-day ‘miracle’ program (€375) for those whose cooking skills stop after reading the microwave directions on the frozen meal.
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BANTRY
pop 3300
Vast Bantry Bay, framed by the craggy Caha Mountains, draws your eye no matter where you are in Bantry. The tidy town has been on a long upswing from the 19th century, when poverty and mass emigration left entire swaths of land depopulated.
The last several decades have been more prosperous, thanks to commerce and the bay: you’ll see Bantry oysters and mussels on menus throughout County Cork. Today it is a small and compact community that makes an essential break on your coastal journey.
The town narrowly missed a place in history in the late 18th century, when storms prevented Wolfe Tone’s French fleet landing to join the United Irishmen’s rebellion. A local Englishman, Richard White, was rewarded with a peerage for alerting the British military. His grand home is now Bantry’s main attraction.
Orientation & Information
The two main roads into Bantry converge on Wolfe Tone Sq, where the pedestrianised central concourse boasts a statue of Wolfe Tone (Click here).
There’s a post office on Blackrock Rd and an AIB ATM on Wolfe Tone Sq.
Bantry Bookshop ( 027-55946; Marino St) Large shop.
Bantry Laundrette ( 027-55858; 9.30am-6pm Mon-Fri, to 5.30pm Sat) In a small courtyard off Barrack St.
Fast.Net Business Services ( 027-51624; Bridge St; per 10/60 min €1/5; 9am-6pm Mon-Fri, 10am-5pm Sat).
Tourist office ( 027-50229; Wolfe Tone Sq; 9.15am-5pm Mon-Sat Apr-Oct) Based in the old courthouse.
Sights
With its melancholic air of faded gentility, 18th-century Bantry House ( 027-50047; www.bantryhouse.com; Bantry Bay; adult/child €10/3; 10am-6pm mid-Mar–Oct) makes for an intriguing visit. The house has belonged to the White family since 1729 and every room brims with treasures brought back from each generation’s travels since then. The entrance is paved with mosaics from Pompeii, French and Flemish tapestries adorn the walls, and Japanese chests sit next to Russian shrines. Upstairs, worn bedrooms look out wanly over an astounding view of the bay – the 18th-century Whites had ringside seats to the French armada. Experienced pianists are invited to tinkle the ivories of the ancient piano in the library. It’s possible to stay the night in the wings (Click here).
The gardens of Bantry House are its great glory. Lawns sweep down from the front of the house towards the sea, and the formal Italian garden has an enormous ‘stairway to the sky’, offering spectacular views.
In the former stables you’ll find the 1796 French Armada Exhibition Centre, with its powerful account of the doomed French invasion of Ireland. The fleet was torn apart by storms; one frigate, La Surveillante, was scuttled by its own crew and today lies 30m down at the bottom of the bay.
Bantry House is 1km southwest of the town centre (a 10-minute walk) on the N71.
Festivals
West Cork Chamber Music Festival (www.westcorkmusic.ie) Held at Bantry House for a week in June/July, when