Wednesday, May 8, 2019

Fanad Head Lightkeepers' Cottages


There are three cottages at Fanad Head available for rent - Tory, Inishtrahull and Dunree, named for the three nearby lighthouses and the way the cottages face. Tory and Inishtrahull were former lightkeepers' cottages, while Dunree is a former storeroom. So, in the photo above, our cottage, Tory, is accessed by the green door furthest left below the visible slate grey roof. Inishtrahull faces a different way. It is situated to the right of the tower (chimneys visible). Dunree is the squarish building extreme right with the two green doors.


The cottage is accessed by a short flight of steps. The walls are extremely thick with the result that you can barely hear a gale blowing outside. The photos on the Lighthouse site are very poor. The rooms are a lot more spacious than the photos indicate and we could easily have accommodated a fifth person on the foldy-up bed.


Excuse the bags on the bed. First bedroom, two twin beds. View of the outside compound. All the rooms have massive radiators and are very cosy.


Sitting room. No telly. No WIFI. Sketchy mobile phone signal.


Bathroom with original red-tiled floor and free-standing bath, which my wife thought creepy but which I would have liked to have used, as any bath I ever had either froze your shoulders or your knees and this was one deep tub. But it would have been a scandalous waste of an awful lot of water, so we all used the shower instead.


Double bed, Bedroom 2


The hall. Although the rooms were in the same positions as the original cottages, the use of the rooms has altered


Very large kitchen with all mod cons.


The house is full of information on the lighthouse, paintings of Fanad Head (all for sale) and boasts a library cupboard, found in many lighthouses and sponsored by the Carnegie Foundation.
Accommodation is offered at about twelve Irish lighthouses around the coast. Best value is probably off season. An absolutely fantastic three-night stay.

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