Lady Gregory’s Lodge

The semicircle of curved wainscot beneath the rustic fan lit entrance heralds a warm interior, busy with the trappings of time.

On the sea-side of the house, the cosy drawing room features an unusual brick fireplace designed and built by the pre-Raphaelite painter Augustus John – a frequent visitor in the early 20th Century.

The large formal dining room is classically furnished in period mahogany, and seats ten.It enjoys similar dazzling views across to Auginish Island through substantial shuttered windows, and reveals another red brick fireplace; this one with inset hand painted tiles depicting artisans. Antique free standing furniture set on glossy old timber floors permeate these rooms.

The spacious country kitchen occupies its own bright extension to the side.Vivid canary yellow with a rustic terracotta floor, this chef friendly arcadia boasts a cast iron Aga range supported by a 5 ring gas cooker, and a premium microwave. Culinary spectators will enjoy the circular breakfast table to one end and accompanying languid wingback chair.

Generously sized, carpeted double bedrooms of individual character are located on two floors. All have ensuite bathrooms except the Rose room, which has a separate bathroom. The two ground floor bedrooms have French doors opening onto the terrace and walled garden.

This family room in cucumber green features a large French upholstered Corbeille bed, and an additional single bed.

Upstairs, the corner bedroom has dual aspect views of the bay and of the walled garden, a super King size bed, a sofa, and a chaise longue.

With a dramatically carved bed, and classic sofa, this bedroom enjoys view of Galway bay. Above the entrance, the Rose bedroom has a small double bed, and of course more stunning views to the North.

Set back from the pebbly seashore to the North by a broad wildflower meadow and a narrow roadway.

The three remaining Monterey Cypress trees here are thought to have been a gift from the George Washington when the house was being built in 1788. The library and ground floor bedrooms open onto a limestone flagged terrace and extensive walled garden with lawns, herbaceous borders and a small orchard.

Kitchen Appliances
• Twin plate Aga range
• Twin oven gas cooker with 5 rings
• Fridge & freezer in scullery
• Dishwasher
• Microwave
• Quad toaster
• Nespresso coffee machine

Utility Appliances
• Washing machine-dryer
• Iron

Bedrooms
• Sizes – Two Super King-size beds, three double beds and one single
• Hairdryers

Tech & Entertainment
• Hi speed Wi-Fi Internet
• 32” TV
• Netflix
• Alexa controlled sound system

Other
• Excellent selection of books
• Walled Garden

• Get on a bike from Doolin
• Shuck yourself an oyster
• Book yourself a seaweed bath
• Under the Cliffs to the Aran Isles
• Smell like a flower
• Gorge on an artisan Ice Cream
• Fly with a Hawk
• Conquer an island

• Tip toe to the edge of Ireland
• Stand under a stalactite
• Catch a wave at surf school
• Lunch on lobster at Linnanes
• Creep around a castle at Dungaire
• Birdie a ball at Gort
• Trek a pony through the Burren
• Chew some local chocolate
• What’s doing in Doolin
• Explore the Burren

During the nineteenth century, the Lodge was the summer home of Lady Augusta Gregory, a pivotal figure in the Irish Cultural Renaissance and a founder of the Abbey Theatre in Dublin in 1904. Hence the name. W.B.Yeats is said to have written The Player Queen and The Dreaming of the Bones while staying here.

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This is the most northerly point of County Clare, known as Flaggy Shore. The closest sizeable village is Kinvara – less than 15 minutes away – and which is actually in County Galway.
A Farmers Country Market is held in the Square most Saturdays throughout the summer months. The Merriman hotel in Kinvara is rumoured to have the largest thatch roof in Ireland.

The villages of Doolin and Lisdoonvarna are about 45 minutes away by car.

Doolin is known as the capital of traditional music in Ireland, and most of the social activity in the village’s four main pubs caters to this, with skilled musicians stopping for sessions as they pass through. County Clare is particularly home to the concertina.

This is also the nearest point to the Aran Islands and ferries depart from Doolin harbour regularly as well as sightseeing trips below the famous cliffs. Trips to the two smaller islands of Inisheer at 11km or Inishmaan are make for terrific days out, but to appreciate the cliff fortress of Dun Aengus, a stop-over on Inishmore makes sense.

Peaking at 213 metres high, and stretching south for nearly eight km, the dramatic Cliffs of Moher are probably the most visited tourist site in Ireland.

The Cliffs are home to an immense number and a variety of nesting seabirds, including the only mainland colony of breeding Atlantic Puffins in Ireland, a species on the decline elsewhere in Europe.

Beneath the Cliffs, enormous waves born of distant Atlantic storms race towards the coast.

Big wave surfers travel by jet-ski from Doolin to catch the wave known as Aileens at the bottom of the Cliffs which can be over 35ft high.

But for most surfers, Fanore Beach with its ancient sand dunes, is the place to be.

For the serious sea cliff rock climbers, Ailladie on the coast just north of Doolin is popular.

The Burren is infamous for its strange karst landscape, consisting of limestone slabs divided by crevices (or grikes) which harbour a remarkable collection of plants and animals, including orchids and the European Pine Marten.This is Ireland’s most important cave area, where only one river manages to reach the sea without being swallowed into a sink hole. More than 35 miles of cave passages have been surveyed and some can be explored for nearly seven miles.

Excavated in 1986, Poulnabrone Dolmen is probably the most photographed of some seventy Neolithic tombs across the Burren region. The bones of 18 adults together with 6 children were found, dating back to about 3,600 BC.

JRR Tolkien was enlisted in 1949 as an external examiner for The University of Galway, regularly staying over at Ballyvaughan.

Some say that it was this Burren landscape that was the inspiration for The Lord of the Rings writings and that one of Tolkien’s best known characters, Gollum, may be named after Poll na gColm, pronounced Pole na Gollum or Cave of the rock dove.

Lisdoonvarna, is home to one of Europe’s largest annual matchmaking events. Attracting over 40,000 romantic hopefuls, bachelor farmers and accompanying revellers. The current matchmaker is Willie Daly, a fourth-generation matchmaker.

The Martello Tower on Aughinis Island directly across from the Lodge, was built in 1811 (one of many) as a defence against Napoleonic invasion which never happened.