ASK JOAN:Your travel questions answered
Clan gathering
Next summer we have a big family gathering/celebration in Ireland. Most of our family is coming from the United States with a few from Europe. They will be spending up to two weeks in Ireland, and we would love to get everyone under the one roof for a few days. We thought a castle, mansion or big house would be a great place for us, as there will be around 20-30 adults and children coming for the gathering. We are flexible about where in the country, it is more about getting together, but the family originated in Kerry.
– HC, Dublin
I have a selection of properties around the country that can take a group of your size. Among them are castles, period homes, small hotels and self-catering properties. Prices vary depending on size and whether it is catered or not. In some cases you can choose to have some meals catered, which might be good for a one-off event.
There are not that many big places in the Kingdom – Ballyseede Castle has around 23 bedrooms and while it operates as a hotel, can be rented for an event. It is very popular for weddings, as it is also licensed for civil ceremonies so weekends in the summer may be busy, ballyseedecastle.com.
Beaufort House, on 40 acres of woodland gardens is just below the Magillicuddy Reeks near Killarney and has spacious reception rooms. Accommodation is in a mixture of rooms in the main house and four cottages in the grounds, beaufortireland.com.
In Galway, Ross Castle is 15km from the city in Connemara. It has an indoor swimming pool, lovely grounds and can sleep up to 40, rosscastle.com.
Also in Galway and with a swimming pool is Sunnybank House in Clifden with lovely grounds and very comfortable for a family group, connemararentals.com.
Ballinacurra House, in Kinsale has 25 acres of woodland on the Bandon River estuary and is available for private rentals for up to 29 people, with good facilities for children, ballinacurra.com. Also in Cork, Longueville House, a Georgian mansion near Mallow can cater for a family group with 14 bedrooms. See longuevillehouse.ie.
Mullinahone in Co Tipperary is where you will find Killaghy Castle, a 15th century tower house that sleeps up to about 26. It is in the countryside and off the tourist trail but close enough for exploring the south east and for hill walking in Slievenamon, killaghycastle.com.
Close to Dublin in Co Meath, the Millhouse in Slane is a small hotel with 13 bedrooms and beautiful gardens on the banks of the Boyne. It is a great location for exploring the Boyne Valley and is easy to get to from Dublin, themillhouse.ie.
A mobile home swop
We have a mobile home in Lahinch, Co Clare. It is in a good location on a well- serviced site and is modern and very comfortable. Some of our neighbours have successfully swopped houses with people in France and we were wondering are you aware of how you go about doing a mobile home exchange. We are interested in a swop for two months in a warm climate next summer and we feel now is the time to plan. Is this done and if so have you any tips?
– KS, Limerick
Home exchanges have been around for a long time and continue to be popular. These three agencies would be the main ones for home swops, homelink.ie, HomeExchange.com and Intervac-homeexchange.com. I have only seen a few mobile homes/caravans for swaps. These agencies charge usually around €100 per year to be a member and have your home listed on their websites. I have come across two British-based caravan websites that list swaps. Directholidayhomes.co.uk/caravan_swapshas a few properties in France while caravanexchangeclub.com has swaps in England, Scotland and Wales. Perhaps some readers seeing this may have a mobile home they would like to swap. Drop me a line and I will pass it on to KS.
Cork to Chelsea Flower Show?
We are three ladies would like to go to the Chelsea Flower Show in 2012 and fly from Cork. Could you give some advice on best two days to go (least crowded) and availability and cost of accommodation and tickets? – TP, Waterford
The RHS Chelsea Flower show will be from May 22nd-26th next year and as the first two days are restricted to Royal Horticultural Society members you will have to attend from Thursday to Saturday. Tickets cost £49 (€58) and are on sale now. You must buy in advance and there is good availability for Friday, rhs.org.uk. On Saturday afternoon, the exhibitors sell off plants from 4pm. The show usually attracts a wide range of celebrities so it’s great for people watching.
You can become member of the RHS and take advantage of the opening days and special price tickets for members. One of you could become a member and buy up to four tickets at the members’ rate.
Ryanair and Aer Lingus operate flights from Cork to Stansted, Gatwick and Heathrow with fares currently from €74-€130. The Sloane Square Hotel, sloanesquarehotel.com and the Cadogan Hotel, cadogan.com are nearby, from £220-£380 (€262-€454) per night per room. Jurys Inn Chelsea is also a good bet, but is booked out, though you could for a cancellation, 0044-207-411 2200.
Pabtours will have a trip from Dublin by coach to the Chelsea Flower Show and if they have enough interest, they will also operate a coach from Cork. The trip for three nights will include coach travel, three nights’ hotel accommodation, a one day ticket to Chelsea, and a half day sight- seeing tour from €335pps, tel: 021- 4271932. Lee Travel in Cork had a trip this year to Chelsea by air and they hope to run it again next year. Tel: 021-4277111, leetravel.ie.