The guitar-shaped Ormond’s Island lies close to the Cork/ Kerry border on the mountainous Beara Peninsula with the Kingdom just able to claim it by dint of a few kilometres.

An archaelogist who plans to create a craft last used by our forebearers more than a millennium ago is getting a dig out for his “dugout” boat from people from all corners of the world.

Trish Dromey visits a beautifully-appointed house built by a Dutch couple to embrace Kerry’s beautiful seascapes.

The jetty is a bit shaky and the timbers are rotted in places, but the wooden structure is sound enough to permit visitors to Illaunslea, Kenmare Bay, Co Kerry.

A Victorian mansion on the Ring of Kerry, which was seized and sold in 2000 by the Criminal Assets Bureau, has just sold once more, for less than what it made in a raw, abandoned state 17 years ago.

Public meetings are being held in Lauragh, Co Kerry, to consider “the future of Lauragh”, the village near the Kenmare entrance to the Beara peninsula considered to be one of the most picturesque in the South-West.

DON’T use the weather as an excuse. Get out there, says Donal Hickey. 

Kerry County Council has said it cannot complete the purchase of a prime 50-acre site for community and amenity use in Kenmare, which it had bid for with Nama, because the lands do not have the vacant possession required.

Hotelier and TV personality John Brennan doesn’t worry about his fitness, as he is always on the go.

Boutique country houses, modern eco-homes and a secluded hillside overlooking the sea — just some of the top 10 most popular family-friendly Airbnb properties in the country.

Here’s a briefing on some of the stories and issues highlighted on irishexaminer.com today.

The presence of two uncontrolled dogs in an open canoe was probably a contributory factor in a fatal accident in Kenmare Bay last year, according to marine safety inspectors.

Unlike most towns in Kerry, Kenmare is bustling even when it’s wet, and is a perfect base to explore the county

Bringing dogs onto small open boats can be extremely dangerous, a coroner has warned.

In the first of an occasional series journalist and cycling enthusiast, Dan MacCarthy, highlights some of the great cycling routes of Munster. This week, The Adrigole Circuit.

Great sadness has been expressed at the death of a church warden after a boat capsized on Sunday in Kenmare Bay, where two men were planning a duck shoot.

A father-of-three who drowned after a canoe capsized would have been leading a search and rescue if it had been someone else, those who knew him have said.

A body has been discovered by local divers searching for a man in his 50's, missing since his boat capsized yesterday off the Kerry coast.

The Parknasilla Resort and Spa in stunning Sneem has something for everyone, especially families, writes Eoin English.

Is there an architect in any period of Irish history with as many hotels and suites to his credit, as Kerry’s James Francis Fuller? 

The Park Hotel boasts five-star service and delivers on it in every way possible, writes Jayson Carcione.

Volunteers at one of the country’s biggest inshore rescue networks have warned people to take extra care if taking to the water — and to use a new smartphone app that they say has already saved a number of lives.

 

Sarah Walker’s new work was inspired by her children’s choice of sport, writes Alan O’Riordan

One half of one of Irish TV’s most popular double acts, hotelier John Brennan, said yesterday that the performance of his Dromquinna Manor venture “has exceeded expectations”.

A humble cow is making waves after swimming 5km across a turbulent sea.

Five-star luxury and thatched Irish houses don’t normally go hand in hand – with the latter, you normally take the rough (and sometimes uncombed) with the smooth.

BUNAW PIER-KILMAKILLOGE HARBOUR, BEARA, CO KERRY

When gardaí called to the scene of a late-night disturbance at a Kerry hotel, they found a man in an injured state in a corridor with what appeared to be his guts hanging out of his torso.

Lough Fada and Hag of Beara

WE continue on the L4911, crossing scenic Cappul Bridge at the head of Ardgroom Harbour. We are immediately in wild country, Tooreennamna and Tooth mountains behind us and the Iveragh mountains across Kenmare River, ahead. After 0.5km, we pass an unpaved roadway going left, with a yellow Beara Way waymark. We could make the nearby parking space our trailhead, shortening the walk by 2km.

There have been many weather-related drownings off the south-west coast since what’s regarded as the worst in 1847 claimed the lives of 92 of the 110 passengers and crew onboard the Stephen Whitney.

IT’S JUST a 90-minute drive from Cork city to the Park Hotel Kenmare — the undisputed jewel in Kerry’s crown.

ROSSDOHAN WALK, KERRY WAY

Size: 450 (4,850 sq ft)

Walkers, hikers, and ramblers are being urged to come out and walk in aid of cancer research this July.

WE have parked opposite the old Post Office, marked on the OS map. Before setting off, we should certainly retrace our steps to the Blackwater Bridge — we will be re-crossing it on our return, but viewing it before we start will make us aware, when we see the Blackwater River upstream, of how romantic and wild it is in this gorge.