BLARNEY, Co. Cork - The White House
This B&B is located on a main street within easy walking distance of shops and gas stations with convenience stores. It's probably within reasonable walking distance of Blarney Castle and Blarney Woollen Mill, too.
The B&B is very nice. We had a gorgeous room with coffee and tea making facilities, a huge mirror, hairdryer. The host was terrific. Very chatty and helpful, though he was pretty determined that we should go to Kinsale instead of Cobh. :-) He gave us very explicit directions for getting around Cork traffic, which made it a lot less stressful.
Beautiful breakfast room and excellent food.
About the only part I wasn't so thrilled about was the price, which seemed a bit high for February (65 euro). Also, it had a really steep driveway. Luckily, our "automatic" car saved the day. I would have struggled if I had been driving a standard.
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LAHINCH, Co. Clare - Auburn House
Dutch owner, very plain room, no coffee or tea making, no hairdryer, no TV in room.
One plus here was the phone in the hallway. It was an old payphone set up for Irish pound coins instead of euro, so now it can only be used with a phone card, which was no problem for us. It was nice to not have to make a trip out to a payphone on the street, hoping you would catch someone at home at the right time.
The B&B was a pleasant walking distance from "downtown" Lahinch, along a road overlooking the ocean. The TV room was very dimly lit, making it difficult to see to write (there was no chair or table in our room, either), but they had broadband internet (for a huge price, but still...). Breakfast was nothing special. The price for this place was 50 euro.
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CLIFDEN, Co. Galway - Atlantic View
This was our very favorite stop. Beautiful room with living area - big TV, loveseat, chair, tables, coffee and tea making, hairdryer, huge mirror. The room had views on two sides. It was so nice to be able to spread out and sit somewhere other than on the bed. The bathroom was large and had a wonderful shower (yay, constant hot water!).
The hostess here was very friendly, though she did lecture me a bit about learning more about my geneology. When I mentioned that my mother's family was from Clifden, she said, "When I first saw you, I thought you had a familiar face!" Breakfast was good, and included the aforementioned Panda Two Tone, the yummy chocolate/hazelnut spread.
This was the most expensive stop (68 euro), but well worth it. Oh yeah, and the hilly view was beautiful. I could see smoke rising from houses across the valley, and it struck me that this was a view that my own ancestors had 150 years ago or more.
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BUNRATTY, Co.Limerick - Dunedin Lodge
Monty! Definitely one of the plusses here. The B&B is about eight years old. Our room is rather basic, but has a huge bathroom, hairdryer, TV. No coffee or tea making. The bathroom has a big shower, with plenty of hot water and great water pressure.
The host was full of stories, and told us a lot about the history of the area. We didn't really spend a lot of time here because we drove into Shannon and then had to pack when we got back. Breakfast was great - scrambled eggs and salmon. Instead of being mixed with the eggs, the salmon was sliced "wafer-thin" and placed alongside (so I mixed it in myself). Price of this place was 63 euro.
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