Islands of Ireland: Oak, yew and strawberry trees — and serenity — at Monk’s Island, County Sligo

It's likely that monks based on a nearby island took their currachs over to this woody idyll for some solitude and contemplation 

Monk's Island, Lough Gill, County Sligo with Ben Bulben in the background. Picture: Dan MacCarthy

If serenity is the sole objective in reaching an island (as it often is), then this County Sligo island has it in spades. Where other islands have golden beaches, historic ruins, or rare bird species to offer up by way of attraction Monk’s Island has a more ethereal quality to entice.

WB Yeats of course wrote famously about another island in this lake, Lough Gill, and the words of ‘Lake Isle of Innisfree’ could just as easily be applied to Monk’s Island on the other side of the lough: “I will arise and go now, for always night and day/ I hear lake water lapping with low sounds by the shore”.