www.kinsale.ie

Imagine a smaller version of say Salcombe, not so developed, more intimate generally and somewhere that is a feast of places to eat (restaurants for every pocket and taste) and you have a part of what makes Kinsale very special. This is 60's style holidays with 00s standards and qualities. The town is beautiful, its set in a wonderful little bay, and unless you arrive in the town by sea, you will have no idea of how much history has come and gone in this one little part of Ireland until you walk around and find out more ....

Using 60s style as a description is simply to evoke feelings of a simpler life and an absence of commercialism, a place to relax. That's what you have in Kinsale. There are yachts and cruisers in the Marina but you have no sense that this is a miniature version of the ghastliness of Puerto Banus or the class struck parts of Devon - Kinsale is not a place for posing or personal PR.

Kinsale has changed over the years - back in the 60s the simple grandeur of the town was very faded and it was only through the initial efforts of a handful people that the regeneration actually happened, producing what you will see now. Don't think though that restoring the town this century is all that has happened - changes since the middle ages are incredible. Just start at Desmond Castle, look down towards the present harbour and realise that the waterfront back then started just 50 yards away, when this little town was important to the French, Spanish, English ....

Desmond Castle has a story to tell for just about every decade of its existence - the interior has a small exhibition of how Irish producers have become part of just about every wine region across the World, hence references to the castle being a wine museum - and this is only a part of a story about warlords, invading armies, trade in wine and other goods. All of this points to how valuable Kinsale was in military terms and just a mile away, at the head of the bay is Charles Fort. Able to accommodate a garrison of soldiers and to guard the bay against any number of ships, the huge Fort is in remarkable condition and its central accommodation areas are being painstakingly rebuilt. Expect it to be used for a Hollywood epic very shortly and for even the biggest Hollywood stars and a film crew, Kinsale would be a perfect base.

The Kinsale Chamber of Tourism produce an excellent Good Accommodation Guide to go with another little booklet on eating out in Kinsale. The choice is yours (from *** Hotels through to very good B&Bs), the quality excellent throughout, seafood is a speciality in what is a gourmet capital which sends its chefs to the east coast of the US to show off their skills and this is Traditional Ireland so the pubs are entertainment centres in their own right. We lunched at Jim Edwards of Kinsale and it was superb, great atmosphere and food. Enjoy lunch or a night out and you can venture onto the seas for all sorts of sailing and boating, you can play tennis, go horse riding, make pottery, walk the beautiful countryside - and play golf.

There are two members type courses very close to the town at Ringenane and Farrangalway, very affordable and welcoming. And then there is the Old Head Golf Club.

Venture to Old Head and you should be aware that its a premium price green fee but this is simply the most spectacular golf course on the planet. You need to possess a proper golf game to even consider playing Old Head simply because on 9 holes the oceans below will be ever present, even though they are some 300 feet below you, as you play along the cliffs. The other nine holes are no less a dream place to play each one having a backdrop of distant seas. The 4th and the 12th are incredible, the first requiring an approach where if you find the green with your second shot, you have made a mistake and the latter has a drive you will remember for the rest of your life. You can add in the remaining 16 holes to a round which will test every department of your game and more.

For information -

info@oldhead.ieKinsale - a perfect little town

info@kinsale-tourism.ie

www.kinsale.ie

Whatever you do in Kinsale - Enjoy!

If you want to phone rather than use the web, call 00 353 21 477 4026 for the Tourist Board Offices.