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Ballynahinch Castle – wins my crown of Connemara

Catherine's son at Ballnahinch Castle Photo: Catherine Mack

Not only has Connemara’s Ballynahinch Castle Hotel got sixty five candles to light for its current birthday celebrations, but it has close to that many ethical flags to fly too. With a heart stoppingly gorgeous location overlooking it’s own (Ballynahinch) River and Lake, with grounds which drift seamlessly into the foothills of the Twelve Bens Mountains, this is a hotel which takes its extraordinary position seriously, treading lightly throughout.

With the river and lake at it’s heart, the hotel’s Estate Manager, Simon Ashe, talks passionately of his team’s Catchment Management Programme to conserve vital fish stocks, as well as their campaign against fish farming and drift nets. So far, they are winning their ecological battle, with salmon stocks doubling since the closure of the Irish drift nets fishery in 2007. You certainly have plenty of opportunities to sample the unforgettable flavours of fine, fresh and wild fish here, with lemon sole as the catch of the day on my breakfast menu, which gets you off to a good start on any holiday.

The aptly named Ashe has also been responsible for planting over two thousand trees on the estate, and visitors who want to contribute to this woodland management scheme are given a certificate with their tree’s GPS coordinates, so they or their families can locate it in years to come. These are not the tokenistic gestures which the growing green trend in tourism has witnessed in some hotels, where tree planting, for example, can sometimes be a mere tick boxing exercise. Ashe, who knows every tree, shrub, wildflower and weed on his estate, has also opened a disused well to supply the hotel’s water, including beautifully bottled water for the rooms, installed a giant wood chip burner and solar panels to create the hotel’s energy, and has an impressive recycling facility.

One of the most exciting developments at Ballynahinch is the recent opening of a disused railway line which runs through

One of the walking trails at Ballynahinch Castle

the hotel’s grounds as a looped woodland walk, with boardwalks covering fragile ecosystems, allowing access to bits of Ballynahinch’s beauty which you couldn’t reach before. A clever move, as there greater plans for a Connemara Greenway, similar to Mayo’s Great Western Greenway, using the same old railway line and nearby lanes as an off road cycling and walking trail, within the next year or so. You can already make the most of stunning cycling in the area, as bikes are available for guests’ use. With Roundstone just a few kilometres away, you can cycle to the sea and back before breakfast, if you’re keen.

Ballynahinch Castle celebrates everything that people used to come to Connemara for. They have a full time walking guide on staff now, Noel Joyce, who will take you just about wherever you want, be it just around the grounds to give you a history of the trees (and their planters) or into the mountains where Noel will regale you with his knowledge of the Gaeltacht and it’s social, archaeological and natural history.

One other thing which really sets Ballynahinch apart for me, however, is its genuine passion for Ireland’s cultural heritage. Des Lally, who described himself as the ‘night porter’ the evening we arrived, was not only top of his game in terms of hospitality and warmth, but I was then to discover that he is co-editor of a beautiful book of poetry recently published by Occasional Press, in association with Ballynahinch Castle, called “An Afterglow: A Gallery of Connemara Poems”. That’s Ballynahinch for you. The hotel is brimming with local artwork and fine books so, all in all, no wonder many of our leaders in the arts are coming to the hotel to take part in their birthday celebrations, with various events planned throughout the year. Their latest publication, the stunning  A Connemara Folio” by Donald Teskey,  is a collection of eminent artists’ visions of Connemara.

Photo: Catherine Mack

Ballynahinch manages to wear its achievements lightly, however. It’s neither flash nor fuddy duddy, and welcomes everyone in through its doors to join what feels like one constant house party, birthday or no birthday. So, if you have a treat in mind, go help blow out the candles this year, and raise a toast to effortless ethics, carried out with exemplary commitment and class. For more photos see my slideshow on Flickr.

www.ballynahinch-castle.com

An edited version of this article was first published in The Irish Times in June 2011

 

 

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The Ring of Kerry, from the water

Catherine's son canoeing across Lough Leane Photo: Outdoors Ireland

If you think that the Ring of Kerry is just for coachloads of tourists, it’s time to head ‘off piste’ with a man who knows the best shores to paddle off, peaks to conquer, and cliffs to climb  Nathan Kingerlee, founder of Outdoors Ireland (outdoorsireland.com), mountain guide and expert rock climber, is also the man who recently wrote a blog about hiking round Ireland with a dog and a goat and, when you’ve read it, you will know that this is the guy to lead you safely up to the summit of Carrauntoohil or, in my case, across Killarney in a kayak.

Before heading off on an all day paddling session, Nathan gave us some kayaking tips on the reed covered shores of Lough Leane and, as a passionate proponent of Leave No Trace (leavenotraceireland.org), he told us to ensure that we did just that on our day on the water. We left Killarney’s tourist filled streets behind and gently paddled out into a totally tranquil lough. It felt like a totally empty lough too, with Nathan saying that the tourist boat traffic stays over on the other side, so we had massive expanses of Kerry water all to ourselves for the rest of the day

With just enough wind to help us across the lough, but also to make us work our muscles when we changed direction, we certainly earned our lunch. We tucked into picnics on the water’s edge, sheltering from a shower on the edge of Tomie’s Woods, followed by a quick walk up to admire O’Sullivan’s Cascade. This stretch of ancient woodland is spectacular, and accessing it by boat might certainly have been a better approach for some man who, according to Nathan, got lost for three days in this, some of Kerry’s densest forest. Warmed, re-energised and back in our kayaks, we gently followed the shoreline to the point where the River Laune meets Lough Leane, and took our final glances of the magnificence that is Macgillycuddy’s Reeks from the water, ending with a lash down the rapids leading to Beaufort Castle, with Nathan able to identify each peak, point out nesting eagles, and teach us how to ride the rapids all at the same time, in that multi-tasking outdoorsy way that I am totally in awe of.

Photo: Outdoors Ireland

Outdoors Ireland is part of a network of Kerry businesses to have joined the Green Tourism Business Scheme (GTBS), a UK certification scheme brought in to help them achieve green status as a region. All participants are listed in brochure called The Greener Side of The Ring of Kerry, downloadable free of charge from Discover Ireland (tinyurl.ie/76p). Some are greener than others, however, with Gold award winners like Outdoors Ireland leading the field, and others still at the early stages of green practices with a Bronze award, although this range isn’t clear from the brochure. For my kayaking trip, I chose an accommodation which had been awarded the Gold award, Salmon Leap Farm, a traditional farmhouse b&b just outside Killarney whose green practices are clearly listed on their website (salmonleapfarm.com).

The GTBS is now one of the several green certification schemes recognised by Fáilte Ireland, with others including the EU Ecolabel, Greenbox Eco-certification and the Green Hospitality Award. In a land where there are forty shades of green, it sometimes feels as if we are getting as many shades of certification schemes, and I long for the day when Fáilte Ireland and the Northern Ireland Tourist Board agrees on one certification which fits all and which embraces all aspects of sustainable tourism particular to Ireland, including access to low carbon transport facilities and, ultimately, creating a clearer, simpler picture for tourists and businesses alike.

In the meantime, Outdoors Ireland certainly meets the criteria for any gold and green award, with Nathan not only sharing his skills relating to excellent low carbon activities, but also guiding us with an expert knowledge of the local ecosystem.  You mightn’t do the whole ‘Ring’ thing with Nathan, but the 24kms of Kerry which I saw from a kayak are some I will never forget. Goodbye Celtic Tiger, hello Celtic climbers and kayakers, where the future is green and raring to go.

An edited version of this article was published in The Irish Times in July 2011

Photo: Outdoors Ireland

 

 

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Who is responsible?

Bulldozers in Bimini Photo: Gail Woon via Tourism Concern

[This article was published in The Irish Times following the dramatic enquiry into  phone hacking and News International in July 2011]

Many of us have spent the last two weeks watching the dramas of international organisations unfold. As we learn more about the effects of power and money, secrecy and immorality, few can sympathise with the hackers, editors and company directors who are being forced, finally, to account for their illegal and inconceivable activities. Yet, in a world where share values, sales targets and market share take precedence, it is getting harder and harder to see who is accountable for social responsibility.

In tourism, one of the most powerful industries in the world, companies are merging into corporate giants quicker than most holiday makers can get their towels on a sunbed in the morning. Last week saw Thomas Cook being given the green light for a proposed merger with the Cooperative Group, both already holding a vast share of the travel market in UK and Ireland, with Thomas Cook owning Sunworld and Panorama brands to name but a few. In 2007, German travel group TUI, which already owned Thomson, merged with First Choice, to create TUI Travel UK and Ireland, which includes the brand Falcon.

Let me be clear – I am in no way equating the business practices of these tourism giants with those of, say, the Murdoch media empire. In fact, the good news is that all these companies are members of ABTA, The Travel Association which aims to encourage a high level of sustainability among its members, and they are also all supporters of The Travel Foundation (thetravelfoundation.org.uk), a charity which guides leading tourism businesses to participate in responsible tourism practices in specific destinations. ABTA, for example, has created the Travelife System, which audits hotels’ environmental practices as well as the degree to which they support the local community. You can see all participating hotels and tour operators at travelifecollection.com.

However, at a recent conference, when another leading international hotel chain boasted their ethical practices in the Caribbean, announcing that they were now buying all their jam from an island producer, I challenged them: “Why stop at jam?” I suggested, “Surely there are so many other products you could source locally?” to which the response was, “Have you any idea what that would do to our profit margins? And anyway, we employ hundreds of people here every year, which is more than they had before we arrived”. Bread and circus, with jam flavouring to hide the real taste, I thought.

The problem is that sustainability seems only to be a concern for many of the players in tourism when they can be shown that there is a ‘business case’ for it. Or, in other words, when ethics translate to profits. The other argument I often hear is that mass tourism businesses are simply doing what we, the consumers, want. For example, both the Director of Communications and the Director of Purchasing for TUI Travel UK and Ireland concurred, at a recent debate on the sustainability of all inclusive holidays, that TUI’s recent decision to make all their First Choice holidays ‘all inclusive’ from summer 2012, was purely a response to increased consumer demand for this type of holiday,  
adding, “The tour operator supplies what the customer asks”. This ethos of  ‘if there is a demand, it is our job to supply it’ leaves ethics a bit far down the pecking order, in my view.

Sun worshipping in Togo Photo: Tourism Concern

At this same debate, however, Rachel McCaffery, Responsible Business Manager at Virgin Holidays stated, “We have bought into the fact that there is a business case for sustainable tourism but, at Virgin, it is about doing the right thing too”. Profit can no longer be the sole motivating factor in economic activity and, in travel, the time has come for all tourism businesses to recognise human needs in the destination too.

There will always be some corporate leaders who roll there eyes at the ethical debate in tourism, dismissing proponents of sustainability as ‘snobs’ who just don’t ‘approve’ of mass tourism, or out of touch with world economics. But this is not the case. A growing number of consumers are demanding that people in destinations are treated fairly, and that their homelands are respected. Perhaps we just need to shout our consumer demands a bit more loudly. And, in the worst case scenario, if mass tourism doesn’t turn out to be a destination’s promised panacea, that someone is able to hold up their hand and be accountable. Be that we the consumers for ‘demanding’ it, the businesses for profiting from it, or the governments for allowing it.

 

 

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Glenribbeen b&b in County Waterford, Ireland

Glenribbeen Eco Lodge, Waterford, Ireland. Photo: Catherine Mack

There are some people who like to hide their green beliefs under a bushel and then there are those who stick a great big flag in their garden to let the world know that being green is no mean feat these days, and so if you’ve got it, you might as well flaunt it. Glenribbeen Eco Lodge is a small bed and breakfast run by Els and Peter O’Connor which has greenness and kindness oozing from every open pore. I say open, because the doors of Glenribbeen are always open. If you turn up with your tent they’ll welcome you, with dogs, children, a horse, whatever, they would turn few away. Because Irish Peter and Dutch Els’ approach to hospitality and life are holistic and generous. They are both musicians and artists, growers and creators within the community, and the guesthouse is all part and parcel of that.

The flag is that of the EU Flower, the eco certification which Peter and Els were awarded in 2009, and with solar panels, rainwater harvesting, home made briquettes for the fire, fine organic vegetarian food, bat boxes, free range hens happily pecking around the beautiful gardens and bird feeders at every turn, they have merited the accolade for sure.

However, it is individual dedication, imagination and understanding of the bigger picture of responsible tourism which makes a business truly sustainable, not just the solar panels or light bulbs. You can stick as many responsible tourism policies as you like on your website, or boast about all your eco-gadgets, but it’s the living and breathing it, having a real connection with how their tourism venture can be part of a wider green community, that makes somewhere like Glenribbeen so special. Just have a quick look at Peter’s blog to see everything from a broad bean hummus recipe to creating a solar powered walkway in your garden, and this will give you an idea of his commitment to all he believes in.

This is not an eco-chic home, however,  it is just a home built on sustainable, simple principles, with balconies made from recycled wood, vegetable gardens, books from second hand shops, a living room full of musical instruments. It’s a place where Els’ beautiful paintings cover many of the walls and where Peter shares his passion of archery with his guests by offering lessons free of charge. They know the nearby walking and cycling routes like the back of their hands, with extremely quiet trails straight out of their garden gate, taking you as far as The Vee Gap and the Knockmealdown Mountains.  Or the O’Connors will arrange hired bikes to be delivered to the house from Lismore Cycling Holidays, with convenient off road cycling into Lismore town and then into the hills beyond.

We decided to explore the area from the water, however, and thanks to a top tip from Peter, also a keen canoeist, we spent a few hours of a sunny late afternoon in the delightful company of Cappoquin man, Dennis Murray of Blackwater Boating who, having spent his life on the river, knows every bend, bridge and building on it. His gentle charm and local knowledge of not only the flora and fauna, but every historic building which overlooks the river, was enrapturing, regaling us with history one second, and heron spotting the next.  With so much attention given to Waterford’s fine beaches, we were amazed to see that this haven of river life was almost deserted.

Another wonderful facility on their doorstep is the wheelchair-friendly fishing boat, the Wheelyboat of which Peter is one of the registered captains. With fingers in many pies, a new project always on the go, Peter definitely has a ‘glass half full’ approach to life and, as we said our goodbyes, he gave us a stick of rosemary to put on the dashboard to bring energy to the driver and natural perfume for the passengers, and Els popped a parcel full of her specialty Dutch pancakes on the kids’ laps for the journey. So, if you are looking for a place to stay in the Waterford area, owned by people to whom both generosity and green living come naturally, just follow the flag.

An edited version of this article was first published in The Irish Times in August 2011