Summer in a snapshot

Saturday, June 30, 2012

Catherine Fulvio, Mulranny, Co Mayo

“We holidayed in Ireland every October or November because my mother had the B&B here at Ballyknocken and Dad ran the farm. You wouldn’t close down B&B in high season. So we were the poor unfortunates travelling around Ireland, supporting tourism in the lashings of rain!

“I have two brothers and a sister, and we crammed into the back of a Hillman Hunter. You know the way: ‘He kicked me!’ ‘She’s sitting in my space!’ The usual car journey with kids...

“One of my favourite memories is a holiday in Mulranny, Co Mayo. I don’t remember the year, but I Blondie had a hit with ‘The Tide is High’. Every time it came on the radio we’d shout at Mum to turn it up, and we’d be belting out ‘The Tide is High’ as we watched the Atlantic waves crash against the coast in the depths of winter...

“When we got to Mulranny, we stayed at the old Great Southern Hotel, which is the Mulranny Park Hotel today. It’s in the most amazing location, with a breathtaking view. We can see the sea here in Wicklow from the hills beyond the farm, but I had never seen a view like that.

“I was around 10, was starting to appreciate food at the time, and I distinctly remember they didn’t do a children’s menu. Children could choose anything from the adult menu for half-price. I had pigeon breast to start, and pheasant for my main!

“The pheasant stands out in my mind because the shot was still in it. I bit into it and found a bit of metal in my mouth. ‘There’s something funny about this,’ I said.

‘That’s just the shot,’ Dad replied.

“Then it dawned on me, at 10 years old, that the bird had been shot! I remember it tasted like very strong sirloin of beef. I’d had duck before, but this tasted... earthy.”

* Catherine Fulvio runs Ballyknocken House & Cookery School (Ballyknocken.com).

Miriam O’Callaghan, Dingle, Co Kerry

“I was one of five children, and the place we went to every year was Kerry.

“We usually went to Ventry. Before that, it was Ballybunion, Ballyheigue and Waterville. But for the last four or five years, up until I went to university, we went to Ventry because my parents loved the Irish language. My father is a Kerryman, and my mother is a national school principal. We piled into the car, and it seemed to take 12 hours to get there, but we loved it.

“We rented a house every year called Corby Sands. It’s still there. We got it through Páidi Ó Sé, whose mother was friendly with mine, and rented it religiously for a good few years.

“I go back all the time now to Dingle with my kids. We stay at the Skellig Hotel — they’re great with kids, offer very good value, and they have a thing called the Funghie Club, which our six-year-old literally queues at the door in the morning to get into!

“My favourite beach in Kerry is Inch. I know people love Coumeenole, the beach from Ryan’s Daughter, and it is beautiful, but growing up I just have happy memories of Inch. It was so long, it looked amazing, and we just bathed in the sea (by which I mean, froze to death!).

“We take our boys surfing there today. Everything in life is a cycle... We’re back at the same places. It’s a shorter drive to Kerry these days, and we still have lots of relations there, so we go down all the time. I like to remind my kids that they’re not city slickers. And it works!”

* Saturday Night with Miriam begins tonight at 9.30pm on RTE 1.

John Creedon, Dublin City

“I was like a kid in a candy shop. Back in the late 1960s my eldest sister, Norah, applied for the bank and moved to Dublin to start work. I was allowed go off to her for two or three days on holidays, up to bedsit land on my own, in so far as it was. It was my first trip away.

“I remember being brought to Moore Street. That was a buzz. The big thing for me was the accents — it was like being in a foreign country. I also got to the top of Nelson’s Pillar. I counted the steps, but I can’t remember how many there were. It wasn’t long after it that it got blown up.

“It was like being in New York. There was the smell of Bewley’s coffee. We went to the zoo and got chased by a goose... I was told to stand back, but was insistent on putting the bread into his mouth. You have to go too close to the fire a few times in your life!

“I’m a granddad now, and Dublin is on my list for the summer. I have a two-year-old granddaughter, Mollie, and I’m dying to bring her up for a trip to the zoo.”

* Creedon’s Cities begins on RTE1 at 9.30pm on Monday, July 9th.

Norah Casey, Portrane, Co Dublin

“It’s hard to believe now, but there was a time in my life when holidays in Portrane were the highlight of my summer. It’s an easy commute these days, but back then, we caught a train to Donabate (the far side of the world) and a bus to Portrane. The journey seemed endless.

“It was so exotic and different to normal life... we stayed in a caravan, for one. There were seven of us, so it must have been quite cramped — although I don’t remember that. What I do remember is the anticipation, and finally arriving and racing down to the beach and into the sea.

“Today, I’ll barely put a toe in the bracingly cold Irish Sea… but the exuberance of youth obviously neutralised the chill — or perhaps dimmed the memory. We would swim and splash and jump over waves all day long and return to the tiny caravan covered in sand, our skin red and shiny from the salty water...

“My memories of Portrane are of encounters with the friendliest of people, the novelty of spending time with our cousins, the great natural playground of sea and sand. Of course, by now many more have discovered this little gem. It even has a few claims to fame.

“The very first episode of Father Ted was shot in Portrane. U2 had a caravan there during the late ’70s and were inspired to write lyrics and music for their 1981 album, October. George Harrison of The Beatles holidayed there with his family...

“But its biggest claim to fame is in transforming us city kids into beach bums for a few weeks every year! For a short spell we got to swap the pavements and houses for an exotic playground created almost entirely by Mother Nature.”

* Norah Casey, owner and CEO of Harmonia Publishing, is a star of RTE’s Dragon’s Den.

Pauline McLynn, Strandhill, Co Sligo

“When I was growing up we used to go on holidays in Sligo. Initially we stayed in my grandmother’s house in Sligo town, but when we grew out of that, we went to Strandhill. It’s a little seaside village about five miles along the coast, and we used to rent a caravan and run wild.

“There was myself and two younger brothers. Strandhill is known for its surfing now, but surfing hadn’t been invented in Ireland then. We used to go in swimming, and it’s a very dangerous beach. Even if you were just paddling you could feel the undertows dragging you out. In fact, when I look back on it, we were somehow fighting for our lives whenever we were in the sea...

“When we holidayed there, we would walk down to the local pub some evenings. My father would have a few pints, the lads would play pool, and there would always be a duo singing some of the most awful songs. But one year Horslips came and played Strandhill’s little ballroom. It was the greatest thrill ever. I’m a huge fan. !

“Oh, and I have to tell you this... there are two Nissen huts in Strandhill from ages back, and my parents lived in one of them after they got married. It was literally a tin can, and that’s where I was conceived! So Strandhill does play a big part in my life!”

* Pauline McLynn’s ‘Jenny Q, Stitched Up’ is published by Penguin.

Niamh Greene, Killarney, Co Kerry

“We often holidayed in Killarney when I was a child. In the days before Nintendos or iPods, the drive to Kerry from County Wexford was a long one, so my siblings and I used to have to find creative ways to entertain ourselves. There would have been a lot of I Spy and counting cars too — games I always seemed to lose!

“We’d always stop for a picnic on the way — regardless of the weather. I have fond memories of eating soggy tomato sandwiches and drinking red lemonade at various windswept points along the road — somehow everything always tasted better outdoors.

“We usually stayed in B&Bs around Killarney — I can still remember the pink and yellow nylon sheets that were the height of sophistication back then! We’d have full Irish breakfasts every morning to set us up for a day of sightseeing around the Ring of Kerry, up to Moll’s Gap, Kate Kearney’s cottage and Torc Waterfall.

“We used to go pony trekking too. In 1981, the year that Diana and Charles got married, we stayed in a B&B close to some stables and I spent a week mucking out, just for fun. My favourite pony was called Lady Di (in hindsight I suspect the stables may have re-named her especially for the summer season!). Lady Di wasn’t very ladylike though and she had a bad habit of trying to nip me as much as she possibly could. It didn’t dampen my ardour for her funnily enough.

“When I got older, Killarney lost its charm for me and I either wanted to stay home and hang out with my friends or go abroad instead. Being a parent myself now though, I’ve fallen for Killarney all over again and I’ve already taken my own children there quite a bit.”

* Niamh Greene’s fifth novel, A Message to Your Heart, is out now.

Leo Varadkar, Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport Dungarvan, Co Waterford

“I spent most of my childhood summers in Dungarvan in west County Waterford, on my uncle and aunt’s dairy farm. I have a cousin around my age, Julie, and I used to spend a few weeks in Dungarvan, after which she would come to Dublin for a few weeks.

“We travelled up and down on Bus Éireann from Bus Áras, which was a real chore in the those days. It must have taken four hours. With the new motorway, I drive to Dungarvan now in a little over two hours, and the Expressway bus service is much better now too.

“Being a city kid, living on a farm was a real change of scenery. We played in the hay, rode horses, cycled to the beach or out to my nana’s house, and did all sorts of things that are normal in the country but cannot easily be done in west Dublin.

“One of the most interesting places nearby is Mahon Falls where you switch your car off, only to roll up the hill. It’s probably an optical illusion but it’s pretty dramatic and uncanny.

“The summers seemed sunnier then, but I am sure they are were not. My Aunt took us on really interesting day trips. We visited Kilkenny Castle, Cashel, Blarney and Bunratty, which I really liked — being a young history buff. We also went to Killarney and did the Ring of Kerry in a jaunting car.

“As Minister, I regularly visit Killarney as some of my Department was decentralised there and I visit tourist attractions like Cashel and Bunratty. It brings the memories flooding back.

“Julie is now teaching in Cork. We don’t see each other so much anymore except maybe at Christmas, or when I am in the city and can get an hour or two of personal time. I still make it to Dungarvan to see my relatives, maybe once a year.

“West Waterford has become a bit of a magnet for foodies, with excellent restaurants in Dungarvan and Ardmore among others. Nice beaches and countryside too. Definitely worth a trip.” Home