Holidaying at home in Ireland? Here are three things you have to pack!

WITH primary schools closing for the summer this week we are officially in “holiday time.” I’m skipping the airport queues, the brutal European heatwaves and the planeload of carbon emissions and am holidaying in Ireland.

I’m one of those insufferable Corkonians who love the place so much that I go on my holidays here too. I find it hard to leave the county bounds, Youghal, Courtmacsherry, Schull, Bere Island, Baltimore have all been holiday destinations in recent years. I’ve even gone on a weekend break “away” to The Montenotte Hotel for the Jazz Festival because I wanted a reunion with old friends post-pandemic but didn’t want to waste precious babysitting time travelling. When you have world class hotels and destinations on your doorstep it’s hard to walk past, and it’s easy to convince your friends to come visit.

In a break with tradition, I’m just back from a weekend in Kerry on the Dingle Peninsula soaking up the wildness of Slea Head. 

It’s pretty special to think there were people constructing dry stone beehive huts without mortar on this inhospitable corner a thousand years ago and we can still marvel at their craftsmanship today.

Dingle town is beautifully presented with terraces of cheerful painted businesses and not a derelict or graffitied facade in sight. People like to joke that Ireland is a great country if only you could only put a roof on it, well Kerry County Council have installed picnic bench areas with very simple roofs that look smart and provide ample cover for tourists dodging one of those Irish cloudbursts with simultaneous pelting rain and bright sunshine.

The Blasket Centre is a fascinating heritage museum which reopened last year after a €3 million facelift and honours the unique community who lived on the remote Blasket Islands until their evacuation in 1953. It brings the island’s people, history, and culture to life through imaginative displays and interactive exhibitions. The building itself is stunning and the whole experience is very moving. I think Peig would approve. 

The resourcefulness, ingenuity and strong will of the people to survive on Blasket for so long is evident, as is the deep loss about how the draw of the “new world” brought an end to the unique community. 

We were in Kerry with a returning relative home for a week from Canada and it’s sad that emigration continues to separate Irish families.

The whole Gaeltacht area made me want to sign up for an Irish language course to resuscitate whatever bit of Gaeilge is lodged in my brain, it even helped convince my eight-year-old that Gaeilge is worth learning because there are places where you can go and speak it. Holidays outside Cork are good for the soul too!

Irish holiday equipment

Packing for an Irish holiday requires some consideration, raincoats, swimsuits, shorts, hoodies are all required as are multiple types of footwear but here are three items that are always thrown into the boot of our car and are holiday essentials...

Nice one neoprene

I say a prayer of thanks to Fr Julius Nieuwland, inventor of neoprene, the synthetic rubber material made of a type of polymer whenever I enter frigid Irish waters protected by my wetsuit. 

A two-minute hyperventilating dunk and go in a swimsuit can become a leisurely lengthy swim thanks to the insulating properties of neoprene.

Wetsuits are a complete game changer for kids at the beach. Wetsuits help retain body heat so kids can play for hours on the shoreline without developing the blue lipped clue that it is time to go home. I haven’t done a randomised controlled trial, but I think when kids wear wetsuits parental nagging to not get wet, cold, or completely covered in sand reduces by 50 per cent. Nice one neoprene.

Thermos Flask

Is there a house in Ireland that doesn’t have a flask? It’s as important as a hot water bottle in household inventory. Every outdoor pursuit - a picnic in a park, a mountain summit, a GAA match - is enhanced by a cupán tae from a steaming flask.

The first version of the vacuum flask was invented in 1892 but it was a German glassblower who commercialised the design in 1904 and manufacturers have been improving them since.

Ubiquitous coffee shops and machines are a threat to the humble flask because you can get a cup of caffeine most places but there are no baristas at the top of Hungry Hill and a cup of tea and a rest at the top of a mountain will remain one of life’s great treats.

Kelly Kettle

I first came across Kelly Kettles watching the survivalist expert Tom Bán on the television show “Bush Kids” with my children. It is a portable outdoor kettle beloved by campers and hikers and a handy bit of kit to make a day outdoors feel more comfortable.

It was first designed in the 1890s by a Mayo man called Patrick Kelly who fished on Lough Conn and wanted a rapid way of boiling water. He created a sort of hollow kettle where the water is contained in the walls of the kettle and a small fire is lit at the base, so the flames and smoke escape up the central funnel heating the water in the walls.

The great grandsons of Patrick Kelly now run the Kelly Kettle business, and they ship these kettles around the world. Its success lies in its simplicity.

Just gather twigs, leaves, and small bits of wood, light a small fire in the base of the kettle, fill with water and wait for the kettle to start whistling.

We bring it to the beach or on hike so we can have hot drinks throughout the day and the kids love the ritual of gathering firewood and waiting for it to boil. We have toasted marshmallows on the dying embers and that is a big part of the Kelly Kettle’s appeal too!

Wherever you end up on your holidays bíodh samhradh álainn agaibh!