Clare is an amazing hostess. she really is the BEST! she truly cares about her tenants, and she has a special gift for connecting people. I stayed at Clare's place for over a month, it was my first home in Ireland, a home away from home, and it felt just great! Clare helped me so much, whenever and however she could, she did. If I had a problem I told her about her, she would think and think about it until she found a solution. She is so kind and generous that you have to be there to believe such things exists! we had lots of fun in her home, at the time we were 4 guests and we had the greatest home cooked dinners together, lots of loughs and interesting conversations, and Clare was the one who made it happen - but in a very light, not intervening way. We just became sort of a family' just not the kind that stresses you out. She came to take me from the airport - let me tell you, when I come back home fro abroad, my own parents don't bother doing so! :) She also took us to tour around - to the castle, to the amazingly beautiful botanic gardens, she even picked me up from Ikea when I found my own residence and bought some stuff, this is the kind of (great) person she is - whatever I needed, Clare was there. And with an eye for the details: the first time I came back from shopping I brought pineapple and told her how much I like them - and from that day on, Clare would buy them for me as she went shopping and there were always pineapples in the kitchen since that day. It's no wonder people stay in touch long after they left Clare's lovely nest - she is a great friend and a natural social connector, and will make you feel comfortable even if like me, you're not necessarily feeling very comfortable at someone else's house and with strangers I dunno how it happened, but at Clare's place it felt natural and comfortable. well, Clare graciously made it feel like home. she's a wonderful person, and if you're lucky and there's a vacancy at her place, I would say - hurry up and grab it! I was skeptical reading through all of Clare's excellent reviews at first, I said to myself "how can it be? what does this woman put in their drinks?", and I'm so happy I got over it and had the good sense to order right away :) Clontarf BTW is lovely and the road to the city is very scenery, especially at dawn. At the end of Clare's street there's a beautiful park which I enjoyed, the whole area is very pastoral and quiet and yet pretty close to town. don't miss it. I'm grateful I stayed there!