Gealgum Cottage

I'm just back from a weekend in Northern Ireland at the lovely  Gealgum Cottage just outside Derrilyn.  The cottage is a beautiful small thatch with a great caravan that acts as the second double bedroom.  Booked through www.underthethatch.co.uk which has a great range of properties to choose from.

The cottage sleeps 5, with two doubles and a single and is filled with vintage and retro touches.

The soda bread and jam were a nice touch - and the milk in the fridge too.  Unfortunately the promised fuel for a fire was not there and the cottage wasn't as clean as it could have been (the dishwasher smelt so fusty when opened it made me almost sick - also we had to clean some of the crockery and utensils before using but these are really really minor niggles in what was othewise a lovely cottage).  The underfloor heating made the place cosy - but if you're over 6ft be careful in the kitchen.

The cottage is slanting - my friend took a bit to find his sea legs and felt quite queasy until he got used to the fact that the cottage runs down hill (the bed in the main bedroom is on blocks on one side to level it out) but this just adds to the general quirkiness.

The caravan was lovely too, with it's own wood burner to keep it cosy

The setting is beautiful, the only sounds you will hear are the birds and farm animals - and it gets properly dark which was so restful.  Its a short drive over the border into Ireland (we went for a pint one afternoon) and only 12 miles from Enniskillen - where the Buttermarket is worth a pottle for the indpendent galleries and craft shops and great cafe.

Close by the cottage is Gealgum Quay - which is described on the website as 'your own private beach'; it isn't.  It's about half a miles walk away down a leafy road and has picnic tables with metal plates on which to place your bar-b-q (genius).  The picture was taken as the clouds became quite stormy but the predictive constant rain never came.

All in all I had a lovely weekend (topped off by a visit to Stormont Castle which I shall share the photo's off in another post) and the neighbours were a pleasure - here they are saying hello: