Serendipity. If one word was to sum up this cottage and our blissful week away, it would have to be Serendipity.
I and my wife were looking for the ideal cottage to get away from 2020, somewhere that us, our two kids and ageing dog could breathe, be together and relax away from all of the daily stress we have with news, social media and daily cacophony of life in 2020. To maximise our time and locate the right place we decided to search separately at the same time, passing the odd 'possible' place back and forth to each other, just to have a list of 'backups'. Serendipity then came in to play, we both saw Trudy's cottage at the same time, both of us knew we had won the unspoken competition of finding the right holiday cottage. Both gloating as we sent each other the same cottage at the same time, it was then we knew it was meant to be.
The cottage is located down a private gated lane, with only Trudy the owner her dog Heather and her hen's (Heathers hens) as neighbours. During our week I think I only heard one tractor the whole time we were there.
The cottage is an old stone building, each room is small and unchanged from what it would have looked like the day it was built. We loved all of the features of the house, from the stone ground floor, the period details and furniture. We also loved the lack of clocks, we made our own time.e
The cottage has all of the modern conveniences you need for cooking, but has none that you need to escape. We welcomed the lack of a TV as there were lots of board games and books to entertain us.
A stunning beach is a short drive away, the cottage is located at the base of the Ox Mountains so has numerous walks from the front door. Sligo and Benbulben are less than an hour away. For someone who loves exploring the Irish countryside, you can't ask for a better location.
Trudy is a lovely hostess, has excellent local knowledge and is an advocate for heritage and Irish history. This cottage is one of a kind and takes away all of the noise from modern life, the best way to relax and get away from it all.