A family weekend away

[lnr]

Just back from a fantastic weekend with all the family in Northern Ireland. We were up horribly early on Friday morning, and flew over to Belfast International, before getting a bus into the city for our third breakfast and to meet up with Mum, Dad, Em and John (who'd flown into City and hired a car, which Emily kindly drove us around in all weekend).

We couldn't get the keys to our home for the weekend until 4, so we drove up to Larne to visit Grandad. There we were later also joined by Steph, Dave, Oliver and Isobel - who'd come by ferry and had just spent a couple of days in Dublin. After a living-room-picnic lunch we headed down to Ballygally for a paddle on the beach. Then it was time to drive down to Whitehead, and head up through the golf course along a tiny private lane to our new home - a pair of lighthouse keepers cottages at Blackhead Lighthouse. We had a lovely evening in the sunshine, and chinese takeaway for tea.

On Saturday we headed off on a long drive cross country - to the Giant's Causeway. I've never seen it with the sky so blue, and the sea even bluer. Absolutely stunning - and a treat for Mike and Dave who'd not been before. After lunch we headed over to Carrick-a-Rede to cross the rope bridge to the island (which we mostly agreed is a lot less scary these days) and enjoy the views some more. Here we spotted kittiwakes and guillemots and razorbills (though it took some peering at the photos later to be sure). Em drove us back via the Coast Road, including the bit up the Tor Head road which is pretty spectacular - rarely has 30 mph seemed so fast. Grandad joined us again for dinner, and to stay overnight.

Sunday we had a quiet(ish) day - with a trip to Browns Bay in the morning where I was daft enough to brave the water for a swim (fun, but very cold). They dropped me and Mike in Whitehead on the way back to the shops, and we had a lovely walk along the bay and back up the cliff path to the lighthouse. Over the course of the afternoon we were joined by lots more of the family: both my dad's brothers and their wives (Alan, Sharon, Loudon and Averil), two of their children (Kim and David), one son-in-law (Oliver) and three grandchildren (Caolan, Oisin and Gemma). It was great to see everyone and just hang around in the garden in the sunshine - where I burnt my feet. Loudon, Averil and David stayed for dinner and we just about managed to squeeze 12 adults round the dining table! Mike and John went for an explore right round the cliff path and found the caves below the lighthouse. Everyone made a valiant effort and between us we polished off one of the six boxes of chocolates I won from the Chocolate Tasting Club last week.

And on Monday there was just time for Mike to take me to see the caves before we waved Steph and Dave off to get the ferry. We packed everything back into the car and headed into Belfast for a Guinness and a sandwich in the Crown Liquor Saloon - possibly the only pub owned by the National Trust. And we finished off the weekend with a visit to the Titanic Museum on the Belfast Docks - which was great. It's a spectacular building, and they do a really good job of telling the story not just of a famous ship which sank but of the company and town which made her.

Highlights of the photos are on Flickr: Ireland 2012, and the rest are gradually uploading to Facebook (Here we go: Facebook album).

Comments

[burkesworks.livejournal.com]

Great place isn't it? Back over there again at the end of next month!

[lnr]

I ought to go visit again, and leave rather less than 10 years between trips next time!

[davefish.livejournal.com]

That sounds rather great :)

[lnr]

It was fantastic :)

[sphyg.livejournal.com]

Sounds lovely. I even know which county the Giant's Causeway (Fermanagh) is in as it was a question on The Chase recently. I really should book my holiday to Skegness.

[lnr]

I think they might have been wrong about the county - Fermanagh turns out not to even be on the coast! (I had to check which one it was though - the only one I'm properly familiar with is Antrim).

We need to book our next holiday over the weekend - we're terrible about getting round to things like that.

[sphyg.livejournal.com]

> Fermanagh turns out not to even be on the coast!

Ah, that's what D said ;)

[(Anonymous)]

Hi Eleanor! Nice Blog :)

Could you give a little bit more info on the lighthouse keepers cottages at Blackhead Lighthouse? It's very hard to find impartial traveller reviews for it. :)

Would really appreciate it! :D

Eoin G

[lnr]

It's unusual to get anonymous comments here, so I'd love to know how you found me and why you ask.

They're owned by the Irish Landmark Trust, whose website seems to be down at the moment (and doesn't seem to allow direct linking to the properties anyway):

http://www.irishlandmark.com/

There are two cottages, one of which sleeps 4-6 and the other 6-8 - and if you rent them together then the housekeeper can unlock the door which links them. They're fairly simply but comfortably furnished, and in a fantastic spot on the headland - down a very windy private lane. The views are just stunning, from all sides. We had a really good time.

What more did you want to know?

[(Anonymous)]

Thanks Eleanor! :D

I'm just a prospective weekend holidaymaker trying to organise a fun and unusual weekend away for me and a couple of friends. Haven't told them the location yet but I'm peaking their interest with ambiguous and predominantly unhelpful clues about where this mystery location is. :)

As to how I found you I'm a researcher and thus a dab hand at the old googleing. :)

Many thanks for the info!

I've a few more cheeky questions if you don't mind :)

1. Is there a path down to the seafront path towards the town from the lighthouse? (I've been checking out all the photos on Googlemaps but no conclusive evidence thus far. :)
2. Are there large common areas in the big house? It seems huge for only 3 bedrooms. :)
3. And finally, how long a walk is it from the town/train station. I reckon 20 mins if you can get on the seafront 40 mins if you've to go around by the roads. :D

Many thanks
Eoin

P.s Is the housekeeper live in or do they just meet and greet?

[lnr]

1) There's quite a high wall between the cliff path and the property, which is good for privacy, but there's access onto the path by the gate on the road.

2) There's both a kitchen and a living room, and with a bit of cunning rearranging of furniture we did manage to fit 12 round the kitchen table - it's designed to seat 8. Neither room is huge, but both are comfortably sized. All the bedrooms are of a good size too. You do need to bear in mind that the "big house" actually contains both cottages, so it's not quite as enormous as it looks.

3) The walk up from the town along the cliff path did take us a bit longer than 20 minutes, but it was a hot day and we were taking photos and enjoying the view. It's obviously quite steep, but well paved and with steps. Very popular with the local joggers.

The housekeeper was just meet and greet, but is reachable by phone in case of any problems.

[(Anonymous)]

Ahh I see! :D That's great to know! From google Maps and the info I'd gotten so far it seemed that the big building was one (7 person) cottage and the small building behind it was the 5 person cottage. I'm assuming the real lighthouse keeper lives there? :D

P.s Many thanks, you're highly informative and i really appreciate you taking the time :D
Eoin

[lnr]

I believe the other building is still used by the lighthouse service - but the lighthouse itself is now fully automated, and there is no full-time keeper any more.

And no worries, glad to have helped. Hope you enjoy your trip.