| Havens & Hideaways |
Heather Island --
Connemara, Ireland
"In Tully Lake, Co. Galway, there is an island eleven acres in extent called 'Freilaun', which means Heather Island. It lies midway between the nearest shores under the great rock of Letter Hill, which shelters it from the prevailing winds. The lake is shaped like a long oval which has been contracted near the middle where the island lies. On the eastern shore there is a garage which is also a boathouse. A boat is kept beside it by a little pier. A few minutes' rowing brings you to the island where the boat can run into a harbour the size of a boat. When you step ashore you are at the beginning of a path that winds crimson-walled by fuschia, and roofed by laurel, rhododendrons and flowering shrubs. After thirty yards the air grows warmer because of a copse of linden and sycamore trees. Before you suddenly a long two-storeyed, lime-white house comes into view..."
So Oliver St. John
Gogarty, the Dublin writer and surgeon, wrote of his island hideaway almost half a
century ago. It is little changed, though a couple of years ago the lamps and candles were
at last supplanted by some electricity and the island has been put in touch with the
outside world by telephone.
The original house had been constructed by Athelstane Blake of Renvyle in the 1870s. After the burning of Renvyle House (owned by Gogarty) in 1923, the present house was built. Gogarty's wife, whose family had been in Connemara since the middle ages declared her intention to build where she could not be burned in her bed. Thus the six-bedroomed, expansive house on Heather Island today, built by her architect son Dermot.
With the restoration of Renvyle House and its reopening as an hotel in 1930, Heather Island played host to a succession of tenants, notably Edward, Duke of Leinster, who lived here during World War Two, extending the gardens and moving the orchard on to the tennis courts, where it has remained. His departure left Heather Island vacant as a trysting spot for Ian Fleming, one of several such hideaways James Bond's creator sourced up and down the western seaboard for covert dalliances.
The Gogartys' connection with Renvyle House was severed in 1952, at which point Heather Island was bought in by his son in law to keep the family's links with Connemara. Wiliams family holidays have been spent here ever since, fishing, swimming and endeavouring to keep the luxuriant jungle under some measure of control.
Just as Gogarty
entertained such as Augustus John, Yeats and Lady Lavery here, so has that tradition
continued, through Louis Le Brocquy, Peter Luke, James Plunkett and Ulick O'Connor, who
featured in a documentary of Gogarty filmed here. The Gogarty Society, meeting in Renvyle
House each autumn, usually includes a visit to his island refuge.
Four years ago one man involved in the virtual reconstruction of this old house observed that the only way the family could ever successfully turn it around would be by living in it, and he was right. Guy Williams knew that from the reactions of three generations now, as they return and recall summers past, confirming that the incorporation of basic comforts has not altered or diminished the magnetic appeal of this enchanted island.
The old house has a character all of its own, one big enough to forgive the years of being abandoned to the ravages of Connemara winters, while still tolerant of someone compelled to realise a lifetime dream of braving those elements. The welcome may be mute, but it is palpable and undiminished down all the years. Every year a few compromises are made with modern living - this year for instance the solid fuel range that heats the water has been supplemented with an electric immersion heater. Apart from the open fires there are also electric rariators. Incidentally chiropterologists will be delighted with the bat colony here!
This is not a house for those who expect 5* luxury. Charm, comfort, peace and a unique setting - Yes!! Our guests love the Island and return year after year, and it is a rermarkable place. It is not however a Four Seasons, or even a Best Western - Think of an elderly hacking jacket tailored by Huntsman, or a 1930s Chrysler, in daily use, The Queen Mother, not Princess Di, home cooking, not French cuisine. On the whole, as an absolutely dreadful generalization, the house appeals to Europeans more than to North Americans. Many of our Americn clients notice the shortcomings of the house, whilst their Eurpean cousins tend to value it for its setting, and its casual and relaxed atmosphere.How to get there:
The house is situated on Tully Lake, beside Tully Village,
which is signposted off the N59, Clifden-Westport road at Letterfrack.
Access to the island by boat. Bookings essential.
|
