The Irish Examiner featured the Sheep’s Head Way in its travel coverage over Christmas and declared the Sheep’s Head peninsula to be one of West Cork’s hidden gems.
There are fantastic mentions for Carbery Sailing, Bantry House, Dromcloc B&B, The Fish Kitchen, and Charlie McCarthy of Hillside Walks.
Check out the Examiner’s article to get a flavour of what it’s like to spend time on the Sheep’s Head Way!
The development of the Irish responsible tourism awards will help to raise awareness of the need for tourist operators to put sustainability at the heart of everything they do.
The Sheep’s Head was recognised as a European Destination of Excellence in 2009 for its sustainable tourism practices, and an emphasis on responsible tourism is at the heart of the way we develop our tourism infrastructure here.
Responsible tourism is all about creating ‘better places for people to live in, and better places for people to visit.’ We enjoy sharing the fantastic environment and seascapes the Sheep’s Head Way has to offer with our visitors. And we’re lucky to draw in the kinds of visitors who share our passion for taking care of the landscape and the communities here.
As visitors who spend time ‘living the Sheep’s Head Way’, you play a key role in helping us to sustain the fragile communities and eco-systems at the edge of Europe, and we’re very grateful for that support.
But now that the Responsible Tourism Awards are here, can we ask an extra favour?
We’d be delighted if you’d consider voting for us in the Responsible Tourism Awards, to help us gain recognition for the work we are doing, and to show your support for responsible tourism practices across Ireland.
Here are three categories you might consider nominating us in!
Awarded to a business, destination or community that have a specific approach or project that demonstrates responsible tourism in a marine or coastal environment.
Carbery Sailing‘s Wild Atlantic Way Cruises offer brilliant ways for people to immerse themselves in the environment, history and culture of the Sheep’s Head, it’s surrounding bays and the West Cork islands.
Details: Chris Forker, Carbery Sailing, Ahakista, Co. Cork. Tel.? Email: [email protected]
Awarded to a a small (under 50 rooms) hotel, guesthouse, or B&B that can demonstrate principles of responsible tourism have been incorporated into every aspect of their business.
Bantry is, of course, famous the world over for its mussels which are produced in the bay’s pure waters, overlooked by the Sheep’s Head and Beara peninsulas on either side.
Over the May weekend, restaurants along the Sheep’s Head Way will be showing how they’re inspired by local mussels. Each foodie team along the walking route – which runs from Bantry town to the end of the Sheep’s Head peninsula, and from Gougane Barra to Ballylickey – will be interpreting this classic ingredient in a way that showcases its own skills and styles.
Visitors will have the chance to attend cookery demonstrations, and sample mussel dishes prepared in the distinctive style of local restaurants:
• Visit The Good Things Café for a cooking demonstration followed by a mussel-themed dinner at the wonderful Blairscove House & Restaurant. [Booking Essential]
• Taste mussels with samphire, or mussels with West Cork whiskey and honey sauce, at O’Connor’s Seafood Restaurant.
• Tuck in to moules frites and stout at The Fish Kitchen.
• Savour mussels in garlic & cream sauce served with home-made chips at Arundel’s by the Pier in Ahakista.
• Head to Whiddy Island to try smoked mussels with home-made brown bread at the Bank House.
• Spice things up with coriander, mango, lime and chilli mussels at The Brick Oven.
• Sample free mussels with any pint at The Quays over the weekend.
• Eat mussels in the cosy setting of Bantry’s much-loved Snug.
• Try mussel mulligatawny soup with home-made brown bread at The Stuffed Olive on Friday and Saturday.
• Taste mussels tapas-style at seafood café, Trawl and Trend.
• Watch Murphy’s Seafood wok-toss mussels at Bantry’s Friday market.
• Enjoy mussels Thai-style on Sunday as Manning’s Emporium teams up with Wokabout.
The mussel-focused weekend will launch the ‘Eat the Sheep’s Head Way’ event series. Each event in the programme will see chefs and locals showcasing the wonderful ingredients produced along the Sheep’s Head Way walking route.
‘This is an unspoilt part of the world,’ says Diarmaid Murphy of Bantry’s The Fish Kitchen, ‘and we have access to amazing ingredients. When visitors head to Bantry and taste Bantry mussels, Durrus cheese or Kilcrohane potatoes, they’re getting the place on a plate, and it really adds to their experience of West Cork.’
‘West Cork is a place where people take time to refresh their senses, and their palates’, adds Carmel Somers of The Good Things Café and Cookery School. ‘When our visitors eat “the Sheep’s Head Way”, they’ll get to savour and appreciate the amazing ingredients we produce and work with in this beautiful part of the world. ’
‘Mussels are a great ingredient to start our series with’, says Pat Kiely of O’Connor’s Seafood Restaurant. ‘When people think of Bantry and food, mussels are the first thing they think of. We’re all really looking forward to showing just how versatile mussels are, and to dishing up some really great food. It looks set to be a great weekend!”
Booking advisable.
For more details, see https://livingthesheepsheadway.com/eating
Siobhán Burke
Tel. 086 303 0991
[email protected]
The Sheep’s Head Way – Discover Ireland’s Best-Loved Walking Route
‘Eat Mussels the Sheep’s Head Way’ is the first event in a series of ‘Eating the Sheep’s Head Way’ events. Each event will showcase individual ingredients prized by the chefs, producers and people who live along the Sheep’s Head Way, the renowned walking route in West Cork which forms a network of 200km of hiking trails.
It’s all part of an effort to honour the search and rescue teams which supported local rescue efforts during February’s violent storms.
The A walk, suitable for confident hikers, leads people across the peninsula, passing the ruins of a famine hamlet known locally as the “Crimea”, and abandoned copper mines. The 3 hour 8.4km route then follows the coastline on the north side of the peninsula before bearing back towards Kilcrohane.
The B walk, suitable for all families and general walkers will follow the Caher Loop walk from Alice West Centre at the Black Gate, Kilcrohane. The 2 hour, 5.6 kilometre route leads you past Caher lake, down a ‘stony roadeen’, past a famine graveyard, and on through farmland along the coast to Trá Ruaim. From the beach there, the walkers will loop back to Kilcrohane, where refreshments will be served on the day.
Walkers are asked to register below so that adequate guiding services can be provided. Suitable footwear and clothing suited to changes in the weather should be worn for the event.
‘Bantry Bay can look so still and peaceful on a summer’s day, it’s a wonderful thing to see’, says James O’Mahony, one of the founders of the Sheep’s Head Way walking route. ‘But it’s also a place that’s exposed to the elements. When storms hit, or tragedy strikes, we know we have the back-up of amazing teams of rescue workers who can step in and help us.’
In February 2014, those rescue services were called in to assist in the search for two young men who went missing off the coastline in fierce storms. Throughout the long rescue effort which saw the recovery of one of the men’s bodies, the community and the rescue workers toiled alongside each other. Locals shared their knowledge of the coastline and assisted where they could. Meanwhile, a steady stream of visitors brought food and drink to the Black Gate to sustain the searchers as they carried on with their work in difficult conditions.
Now, in a bid to raise funds for two of the groups committed to providing local search and rescue services, the local community is organising a fundraising walk on June 7th on two Sheep’s Head Way loop routes. While 6 services participated in the rescue efforts, funds will be split between Bantry Inshore Rescue Association which provides emergency lifeboat services to the Bantry Bay area, and the newly-formed West Cork Diving Group which also relies on voluntary donations.
BISRA operates the St. Brendan lifeboat at a cost of about €25,000 per year, and almost all of this money is raised from voluntary contributions.
‘It’s a small gesture really, but we wanted to mark our debt of gratitude to the people who helped us in a tough time,’ says John Tobin of the Sheep’s Head & Bantry Co-op, ‘and to acknowledge their ongoing support.’
‘We’ll lead walkers along the Caher and Cahergal loop walks, and while they take in the stunning landscape now the fine weather is back with us again, they’ll also be marking the debt we owe to people who give their time and skills to make this landscape as safe as it can possibly be for everyone who visits it.’
The Caher and Cahergal Loop Walks are connected to the Sheep’s Head Way walking route which extends in a loop from Bantry out to the lighthouse at the tip of the rugged West Cork peninsula.
We ask walkers to seek sponsorship, and donations will also be accepted on the day. If you can’t attend, but would like to donate to the nominated rescue services, please forward donations, marked ‘Rescue Services Walk’ to the Sheep’s Head Way Ltd., Black Gate, Kilcrohane, Bantry, Co. Cork’. It is hoped that the walk will become an annual event to honour the continuing support local rescue services offer to the Sheep’s Head community.
We want to know about the best way you can think of spending a day along the Sheep’s Head Way, from Bantry to the tip of the Sheep’s Head peninsula, and from Gougane Barra to Ballylickey. In return we’re offering you a starring role in our new brochures!Designs and Signs. We’ll need to grab a photo of you here fairly quickly for you to star, but whether you’re near or far, this is your chance to share your story!
Go on, tell us about your perfect day. We’re all ears!
Competition Closes: 6pm, Saturday April 26th, 2014.
If you’ve more to say, just drop us a a line at [email protected] to share your stories with us!
Cronin’s Forge, just outside Durrus on the Sheep’s Head peninsula, already has an international reputation for its range of hand-crafted decorative and practical wrought iron products.The family business is run by Carmel Cronin and her son Brian, a fourth-generation blacksmith. Brian’s craftsmanship is evident in fluid modern pieces inspired both by Celtic tradition, and by the landscape around the forge which overlooks Dunmanus Bay.
Cronin’s Forge craftwork has always been available for sale in the showroom alongside the forge, but now a handful of talented West Cork artists have their wares on display too at the new Cronin’s Forge craft shop which has been opened to coincide with the launch of the Wild Atlantic Way.
For months, Carmel Cronin and her team have been working with the exceptionally-gifted crafters in West Cork, looking to identify pieces that would compliment items in the forge’s own collection. The items chosen to feature in the shop demonstrate the same attention to design and workmanship that the Cronins themselves dedicate to their own pieces.
In the refurbished shop, you’ll find Mairi Stone’s exquisitely-textured porcelain inspired by nature’s organic forms and structures, alongside glasswork from Trish Goodbody, and a range of cushions and soft furnishings that perfectly compliment the ironwork on display.
The expansion of the craft shop demonstrates the strength and depth of the local craft scene, and in fact Carmel Cronin has commissioned a ‘Cronin’s Forge’ mug from Helen Ennis at nearby Dunbeacon Pottery to mark the launch of the new venture.
‘There’s such a wonderful craft scene, here on the Sheep’s Head peninsula. and in West Cork more generally,’ says Carmel. ‘And, as more visitors head our way to see our dramatic coastline, we’re hoping they’ll enjoy discovering some of the craft pieces our landscape inspires.’
The Forge’s shop, just outside Durrus on the Sheep’s Head peninsula is now open 7 days a week. 10am – 5pm (Mon-Friday), 12-4 (Saturday & Sunday). Find out more at https://livingthesheepsheadway.com/cronins-forge
Contact: Carmel Cronin: 087 231 4258 or Siobhán Burke 086 303 0991
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