This is going to be a great week of cooking, tours, music and fun! Through the last 4 years of selling my book, being a vendor at farmers markets and “Irish networking” I’ve met unique gardeners, farmers, herbalists and local characters who will share with us their knowledge and passion for their craft. In the mornings you’ll be working with me in the kitchen, creating gorgeous, healthy vegetarian meals from Boghill’s garden. In the afternnon we will go out for tours. And, because we are in the epicentre of Irish Trad, every night will be a visit to the pub for a session and even a ceili! Let me know if you are interested in joining us. Email me at mary_sheehan@comcast.net. check out my website www.marysheehan.com and Boghill at www.boghill.com. And, plan your trip to Clare soon!
Join us for a week of cooking, farm and food producer visits, nutritional workshops, food themed, historical and cultural nature walks in the Burren and more. This is a unique opportunity to explore the farms and back roads that tourists don’t see. The holiday includes Vegetarian cooking classes where you will cook lunch for the group each day using our own organic, garden supplies and locally sourced produce.
Instruction will be by Mary Sheehan an American who has returned to her Irish family and roots. Mary has been a professional cook for 30 years, specializing in healthy, organic cuisine and developing recipes for varied diets and lifestyles.
Afternoon tours include the Burren Smokehouse and the Burren Brewery, visits to local farmers producing goats cheese, herb teas, apples, vegetables and organic free range meat, a herb walk through a Burren meadow where you think you’re in an ancient fairyland. You will be also be guided through the ancient landscape of the Burren and shown how our ancestors cooked in Fulachta fiadh. This trip offers you a chance to experience Clare life through its food, culture, botany, traditions, music, dance and its people.
The Boghill Centre is a sustainable complex with a strong Environmental policy set in 50 acres of land at the foot of the Burren. The estate includes organic vegetable and fruit gardens, a nature trail, a stone circle, a wildlife pond, a reed labyrinth, a chicken coop and pig pen, an orchard, and several recently planted native woodland areas. Our mantra is reduce, reuse, recycle and our ethos is based on creating an environmentally sustainable business having a minimal impact on the earth. The Boghill kitchen is renowned for its delicious nurturing vegetarian food sourced primarily from the adjoining organic garden and orchard. Our gourmet menu will nourish your soul as well as your body and we are happy to cater for special diets.
The Boghill Centre is a key member of the Burren Ecotourism Network. B.E.N. is a nucleus of local tourism providers who choose to grow their businesses in a sustainable way. The network’s aim is to support its members in their efforts to encourage visitors to explore the Burren region in an environmentally-conscious way whilst benefiting the local economy.
The Burren is a limestone-layered area – a 500 square kilometre stone-plated crown for North Clare and South Galway. “It is an upside-down world of contradictions where rivers run underground through a honeycomb of caves carved by nature through low-resistance limestone; year-round pasture flourishes at rocky heights; Arctic, Alpine and Mediterranean plants grow side by side as strange flower-bed fellows in secret stone pockets and rocky wrinkles. Burren roads that vary in age from 200 to 1,000 years lead back through 7,000 years of habitation marked by 120 ancient stone tombs, 500 stone forts plus castles and churches from every century of the Christian era.” (Taken from www.burrenconnect.ie ) With its unusual geological features, its well preserved archaeology, its unique flora and fauna and its local culture, it is an ideal area to explore intimately in a small tour group. The nature of the area – unspoilt countryside, unusual natural features, numerous heritage sites, small roads , working farms – make it a haven for visitors, but not suitable for large group coach tours.
At Boghill we offer a holiday with a difference – a refreshing change from a Hotel based trip. We replace the impersonal grandeur with a friendly home-from-home, the mass catering with the nutritious, home cooked organic food and we offer one-to-one attention and a community spirit. Our aim is to give you a full flavour of life in the picturesque County Clare and integrate you with the people, the traditions and the customs – A personalised holiday treat. Stay in one of our single or twin en-suite rooms or share a family room in our hostel. You will have full access to the Boghill estate and can enjoy our Interaction with Nature Tour.
As well as the tour programme there will be the opportunity to indulge yourself in a choice of individual therapies at affordable guest rates. Our therapy range includes Aromatherapy massage, Indian Head massage, Reflexology, Reiki and Spiritual healing.
Price: from €830 (Private room €890) inc meals, tours, cookery workshops, evening lectures, talks and story telling
2012 Dates: 21st May – 25th May, 18th June – 22nd June