The cottage was larger than it looked on the pictures, with lots of space, a large kitchen and a good sized, comfortable bed. There was a drawer in the lounge table with DVDs and a challenging 1500 piece jigsaw! The heating was excellent.
Anne Marie visited twice: just after we arrived, and just before we left to ensure all was well. She was just up the road, if we had needed anything. We appreciated not being hassled. One joy of the stay was watching the Irish hares on the lawn and in the fields.
There is a good supermarket in Cahersiveen, a 25 min drive away. (Take the cross-country route, not the coast road.)
There was no phone signal with UK EE & 3 phones in the cottage, but there was a signal with Virgin. The WiFi was surprisingly good. We able to surf the web and watch YouTube without problem.
We stayed for over a week and drove around much of the Kerry peninsular. We were slightly disappointed with the area, as it had been presented as being a five-star location, where as we would give it three and a half stars. That said, we felt the Skellig ring area was the best of all the areas in Kerry we visited. The top local places being: St Finian’s Bay (15-20 min walk from the cottage), Valentia Island and the Kerry Cliffs, Portmagee.
I am interested in astrophotography, and had two astonishing clear nights, one at St Finian’s Bay. Yes, there were a few house lights, but no orange city glow.
The roads were very quiet, but not as narrow as we had been expecting: there were few problems driving around, as there were plenty of passing places. Yes, there were a few walks signposted, but there was not the network of footpaths/bridleways that can be found in England. The land was all farmed, right to the cliff edge. However, there were no stiles or ‘please close the gate’ signs. All farm gates had similar official ‘duty of care’ notices making it clear that walkers would not be welcome: this apparently is an EU regulation.