Western delight

SUITABLE for a cult, or a commune, and coming with its own smoking room - that’s part of the sales pitch for Beach House, which is just new to the market on the Aran Islands.

The islands have been described by Seamus Heaney as “stepping stones out of Europe.”

Ireland’s west coast has had a recent history of attracting alternative lifestyles, religions and groupings - the Moonies and the Screamers being just a few cases in point - and the three Aran Islands have physical remains stretching back to the Celts and early Christians.