Eating West Cork: Visitors from Wicklow and Happy Halloween

We had the pleasure of our good friends Stephen and Susan and their two lovely children visiting us over the weekend. They arrived on Friday afternoon and stayed until Sunday afternoon. It was the usual routine with plenty of catching up over numerous cups of tea at the kitchen table, kids running riot (they all got on famously), afternoon drinks at the Greyhound, huge meals and even bigger full Irish breakfasts, walks around the town and a tour of Charles Fort. Stephen and I left Gwen and Susan home with the kids on Friday night and headed into town taking in a few pints at the Spaniard and the Greyhound (naturally!). Saturday evening there was a huge Halloween parade in the town for the kids followed by quite a good fire show and plenty of sweets. The only bummer all weekend was the racket that President Mary McAleese made landing her helicopter behind our house on Saturday afternoon which woke the girls up from their afternoon beauty sleep!

Stephen and Susan, come back anytime, we had a great weekend with you and were a pleasure entertaining all weekend.

On Sunday (Halloween) night we visited Gwen's first cousin and her lovely family in Enniskeane and ended up spending most of the evening with them and all their neighbours trick or treating. Their small community between Bandon and Clonakilty is in a picturesque stunning part of the county and totally epitomized the West Cork we came looking for. All of them were "blow-ins" from all over the world and all now living in this tiny rural area for the exact same reasons and telling the exact same stories as to why they were there as Gwen and I are. Truly a remarkable place and still managing to surprise and exceed our expectations everyday. Gwen's cousin, Ann and her husband Stephen are also just lovely people making us so welcome in their home and introducing us to so many good people (all who also welcomed us into their homes last night).