Culinary Ireland - The Galloping Gourmets Gorgeous Gaelic Gastronomy

Adams & Butler,  T +353 1 2889355  E info@irishluxury.com
Canada & US Toll Free 1-800-8945712  for more tours see www.irishluxury.com/discoverireland

"Did you ever make colcannon with lovely pickled cream
With the greens & scallions mingled like a picture in a dream
Did you ever make a hole on top to hold the melting flake
Of the creamy flavoured butter that our mothers used to make
Oh weren’t they the happy days when troubles we knew not
And our mothers made colcannon in the little skillet pot"

7 or 10 days of Ireland's finest artisan food, with memorable lunching and dining experiences every day, and private cookery classes from some of Irelands top chefs.   Enjoy delicious meals prepared with food fresh from the fields, rivers and ocean. Visit salmon smokehouses, cheese makers, and inspirational kitchens

Day 1 Arrive Dublin. Introductory tour of Dublin City en route to your hotel. The hotel is located in a quiet street in the city centre & there are good pubs & restaurants locally. Dinner at the hotel tonight

Day 2 Morning tour of Dublin City taking in visits to Trinity College & the Book of Kells, St. Patrick's Cathedral, Dublin’s Georgian Squares as well as the Victorian Fruit and Vegetable Market and some of the specialist food suppliers in the city. Alix Gardner, Cookery teacher & writer, will talk about & demonstrate favourite Irish recipes, with the chance for you to get some hands on cooking, followed by lunch in the dining room of her Georgian home.   Dinner tonight in a top Michelin star restaurant. 

Day 3 Depart Dublin.  Explore Tipperary travelling through the Golden Vale region of Ireland, famous for its butter, cheeses & dairy products. Visit the Rock of Cashel & lunch at leisure in Cashel town. Visit to 16th Century Cahir Castle & onto the picturesque seaside town of Kinsale - Gourmet Capital of Ireland. Dine in one of the town's top restaurants. Overnight at Perryville House Hotel.

Day 4 A visit to the  English Market in Cork Cit then on  to Ballymaloe Cookery School  with a tour of the water garden, orchard, meadow garden, & herb garden. Lunch at a nearby 7* hotel & a visit to Stephen Pearce pottery nearby. Later a tour of the Irish Whiskey distillery at Midleton. Return to Kinsale in time to take a stroll around the town & dine at leisure in one of the many excellent restaurants. Overnight at Perryville House Hotel.

Day 5 A tour of West Cork and Kerry , famous for its many farmhouse cheese makers. The towns of Ballydehob, Schull & Skibbereen are synonymous with cheeses such as Milleens, Durrus, Dunbeacon & Gubbeen. & even goats' ice cream! A visit to one of the local cheese makers to find out some of the secrets of trade followed by lunch and a wine tasting in Mannings Emporium - Michael Manning has for years been a prophet of the slow food movement of West Cork.  On to Kenmare & stay at the Park Hotel Kenmare. Dinner tonight in the fabulous restaurant of the Hotel.

Day 6 Tour part of County Kerry & take some time to shop & lunch in Kenmare which has a good selection of craft shops, pubs & restaurants. Golf, boating or horse riding can be arranged for the non-shoppers. Overnight Park Hotel Kenmare. Evening free to dine at your choice of Kenmare's fine restaurants.

Day 7 Take in the highlights of the Ring of Kerry & the lakes of Killarney en route to Killarney town. A visit to Muckross House and Murphy's famous ice cream parlour.  A visit to Springfield Castle Deer Farm at Drumcollogher if time allows. On to Adare in County Limerick for lunch at The Mustard Seed, a  restaurant  outside the town renowned for its good food.  After lunch carry on to Galway city for the night to taste the seafood for which the city is so famous.

Day 8  Tour of Connemara with a visit to a cottage near Clifden for some more traditional cookery. Visit to Kylemore Abbey & shopping at leisure in Clifden, the capital of Connemara. Return to Galway for the night with a traditional banquet -  an evening of traditional Irish music dance and story telling.

Day 9 County Clare - Visit the Cliffs of Moher which tower 700 feet above the Atlantic Ocean . Visit the Lisdoonvarna Smokehouse & sample some smoked salmon, eel & mackerel. Lunch at the adjacent Roadside Tavern that is famous for its toasted smoked salmon sandwiches. A visit to Bunratty Castle & Folk Village where you'll see a demonstration of traditional farmhouse cookery. 

Overnight near Ennis.

Day 10 

Spend the morning learning the arts of traditional Irish Cookery  a home that dates back to the 1700s, followed by lunch here.  After lunch to Limerick city for any last minute shopping.    The Farmer's market has very fine producers, including the brilliant On the Wild Side, The Gourmet Tart Company, Kilshanny Cheese, The Real Olive Co., Sunflower Bakery, Teresa Storey’s preserves, Connie Devlin’s excellent Forbidden Foods, Benoit Lorge’s chocolates from Kenmare, Frank Krawczyk’s salamis from Schull in West Cork, and the dazzling fish filleting skills of the O’Driscoll brothers from Schull.    A Farewell banquet tonight at Knappogue Castle

Day 11  Depart Shannon Airport

7 Day Tour Self  Drive Tour

Day 1 Bus transfer to your hotel followed by a walking tour of Dublin City or a hop on hop off bus tour around the city

Dublin has long been a centre of art and culture. Stroll through the elegant Georgian streets of Merrion and Fitzwilliam Squares, shop in the elegant emporiums of Grafton Street and Powerscourt Townhouse, explore the collections of the National Museum and National Gallery, the Irish Museum of Modern Art, and many fine small private collections. The range of art and artefacts is enormous, and you will have no problem spending many hours enthralled.. The city is over a thousand years old, and many of the towns and settlements that surround it are equally ancient. Successive centuries have left their distinctive overlays of character and architecture which means that Dublin has a wealth of historically significant and fascinating sights to explore such as Dublin Castle, where the Normans ruled from the 12^th Century, St Patrick's Cathedral, of which Jonathan Swift was Dean, and Trinity College, famous for The Book of Kells and for its alumni who include Oscar Wilde and Oliver Goldsmith.  Visit the Victorian Fruit and Vegetable Market and some of the specialist food suppliers in the city. And no visit to Dublin could be complete without visiting either the Old Whiskey Distillery or the Guinness Storehouse! 

Dinner can be booked for you tonight in a top Michelin star restaurant. 

Day 2 Visit County Wicklow - Powerscourt Gardens & the 7th Century Monastic site of Glendalough. 

An unforgettable bus tour which takes you along the south coast of Dublin and on to Powerscourt Gardens, situated in the foothills of the Dublin Mountains. 

Powerscourt Gardens were begun in the 1740's and stretch out over 45 acres including a blend of formal gardens, sweeping terraces, statuary and ornamental lakes, walled gardens and over 200 variations of trees and shrubs. Powerscourt has been described as One of Europe's Greatest Gardens and One of Ireland's Greatest Treasures. The tour includes entry into the gardens for one of the mapped walks and a short time for the Powerscourt shops and tearooms. A wonderful experience. 

Travelling onwards through the picturesque countryside of Roundwood and Laragh, to another highlight of our tour – Glendalough. The Celtic Monastic System derived from the early monasteries of Egypt, and Glendalough was one of the oldest and most important of the early Irish monasteries. Situated in an idyllic valley with two lakes, hence the name. Founded by St Kevin in the 6th century, it has a High Tower which is one of the most famous images of Ireland, that was used by the monks to store and protect precious manuscripts and artefacts, and also some of the finest architecture of the early church. It is one of the best experiences on a day trip out of the city. The tour includes entry into the Glendalough Visitors Centre for a slide show of monastic Ireland, and a guided tour of the monastic settlement by the official guides of Ireland's Heritage Services. The Centre has an excellent exhibition also included in the tour. 

The tour returns to Dublin through the renowned Wicklow Mountains, the rugged Wicklow Gap and the Blessington Lake. 

Evening free to have dinner at a restaurant of your choice in the city.

Day 3 Pick up your self drive car and depart Dublin for Tipperary. Visit the Rock of Cashel & lunch at leisure in Cashel town. Through the Golden Vale region of Ireland, famous for its butter, cheeses & dairy products. Visit to 16th Century Cahir Castle. Foodies will really enjoy the visit to the  English Market in Cork City.  Onto the picturesque seaside town of Kinsale - Gourmet Capital of Ireland. Dine in one of the town’s top restaurants. Overnight at Perryville House Hotel.

Day 4  Tour part of the Ring of Kerry & take some time to shop & lunch in Kenmare which has a good selection of craft shops, pubs & restaurants. Golf, boating or horse riding can be arranged for the non-shoppers. Overnight The Ross Hotel Killarney. Evening free to dine at your choice of Killarney’s fine restaurants.

Day 5  On to Adare in County Limerick, the prettiest town in Ireland.  Lunch at leisure in Limerick.  There are three abbeys here as well as the Desmond Castle and the Trent Jones golf course surrounding the neo-gothick Adare Manor.  Limerick is a busy city and has several major attractions - the Hunt Museum in the 18^th century customs house, King John's Castle, St Mary's Cathedral and the Georgian House on Pery Square . After Limerick head out towards Shannon , stopping off at Bunratty Castle and folk park on the way where you'll see some traditional farmhouse cookery.   Return to Limerick to overnight at Number One, a boutique hotel in a Georgian Home

Day 6  Tour up the Cliffs of Moher, lunching at the Lisdoonvarna Smokehouse.  On the way back to Limerick cross the Burren and visit the Ennis Gourmet store - Anne Leyden's shop is a tiny space that is jam-packed with all the good foods of the area, and it is also a great place to enjoy good coffee and nice deli foods.

Day 7    Depart  Shannon


From USD 3000 pps for an 8 day self drive tour (breakfast and admissions included, but not other meals) to USD 8500 pps for an 11 day tour with a driver guide.

Adams & Butler Ltd, Luxury Travel Specialists since 1978

T +353 1 288 9355  8 E info@irishluxury.com
Canada & US Toll Free 1-800-8945712

As many of the properties that we are visiting are privately owned and not normally open to the public it may be that the owners have to cancel our visit at the last minute. In the unlikely event that that does happen we will substitute something of equal interest.