TRAVEL

Home & Away with Robert WalsheLiving

The Relais & Châteaux 2013 Guide offers five new destinations (Zambia, Bot-swana, Kenya, Guatemala, Fiji Islands), welcoming 36 new members and an-nouncing 12 new Grands Chefs (minimum of two Michelin stars) including Claude Bosi of London’s Hibiscus The 2013 digital and paper guides work in tandem; QR codes printed on each country map and member page provide a direct link to the Google maps on the Relais & Châ-teaux website and to the websites of each relevant hotel. From January 2013, a digital version of the guide will be available on the website in ultra-light mode for quick download as will a free app for iPad/iPhone users. For full details log on to www.relaischateaux.com/appstore

Weekend Hotspotwww.kilmahonhouse.com

Perhaps you like the idea of staying in one of those grand mansions set in park-land with a crystal-bound dining table and sparkling conversation to match?

Or how about a simple cottage, right by the sea surrounded by wild roses with a hearty Irish sup-per and a trip to the near-est pub? The legendary Alastair Sawday guides to “special places “a trave-ler’s bible for those who seek luxury & difference is the definitive guide to as-sist your planning.

This popular travel bible for thousands around the world has welcomed Kil-mahon House in Co Cork as its newest Irish member. Owners Mary & Jeremy Martin offer a truly elegant Georgian country house ac-commodation experience at Shanagarry, East Co Cork and its addition into this elite publication will showcase Kilmahon to a

whole new audience. The property built in 1780, is a fully restored Georgian Country House and to call it a B+ B is an understate-ment due to the passion and flare of its owners. This charming couple both former House of Fraser executives purchased the property on impulse from a local pottery impresario in 2004 and commenced a refurbishment programme six months later. The house had fallen into a state of disrepair with many parts structurally unsound with evidence of its Georgian heritage all but gone. Jer-emy single handedly man-aged the project with the help and dedication of highly skilled builders and craftsmen around Ireland. The house has been rebuilt from within, its stone walls now benefiting from mod-ern structural and insulat-ing materials in tandem with decorative work and features.

Mary’s interior design experience coming from a high profile retail career is evident throughout and her ability to merge the period aspects of the prop-erty with a modern day twist is remarkable. When we arrived at Kilmahon after our long journey from Belfast we were greeted by the friendly and de-lightfully spoilt spaniel/re-triever cross, Tess. She is a lovely beige colour and has those “love me brown eyes all dog lovers are familiar with! Our hosts, Mary and Jeremy were on hand im-mediately with a warm welcome and embrace. Once we had settled in to our regal master bedroom, they met us in the drawing room with a light supper of smoked salmon & strong G+T! It did not take much encouragement to indulge in these tasty treats and the conversation flowed. Mary subtlety reminded us

that dinner was included in our two night package and later that evening the splen-did dining room adorned by local paintings was the perfect location for a night of fine wines together with a scallop starter locally sourced at Ballycotton bay followed by a main course of duck with root vegeta-bles & creamed potatoes. Desert consisted of a trio of surprises including cheese-cake, Belgian chocolate pot & trifle. We just about found room for a selection of local artisan cheeses followed by vintage port. Mindful of the Allen family connection at nearby Bal-lymaloe House I just mar-veled at the uniqueness of East Cork and the regions culinary excellence. set on an antique table of locally decorated Stephen Pearce Pottery.

As you can imagine we slept well that night sur-rounded by fluffy white duvets and it was a treat to bathe the following morn-ing in a traditional bathtub as big as a mini swimming pool in our ample ensuite. The breakfast spread was more than the two of us could handle with plenty of cereals, homebaked goodies including breads, scones and fruit loaf fol-lowed by porridge finishing with Jeremy’s scrambled

eggs with smoked salmon. Kilmahon House is ide-ally situated as a base for touring East Cork’s many attractions and activities. It is only a short walk to Ballymaloe Cookery School and the blue flag beaches of Garryvoe. Local activi-ties include golfing at Fota & Waterock, fishing, horse riding, and guided walk-ing. photography and re-member art classes can be arranged through Mary & Jeremy directly.

My favourite dining op-tions in the area include Ahearn’s Seafood Youghal and in Midleton at the Farm-gate which is also home to the Jameson Heritage Dis-tillery offering guided daily tours.

Cobh Cathedral and Ti-tanic trail along with Fota

House, Arboretum and Wildlife Park are also close by and a must see. Kilma-hon House is available for luxury private rentals and exclusive house parties and I would highly recom-mend staying here not only for its 5 star plus appeal & food but also for the pleas-ure of the company of Jer-emy & Mary.

To celebrate they are offering the “Sawday” ex-perience package from just €140 B+B per room per night or a four for the price of three night autumn bounce package. Kilmahon will be offering pure indul-gence with none of the guilt as you can walk it all off in the stunning surrounds of East Cork with scenic

paths taking you through an area of outstanding natural coastline beauty including the famous Bally-cotton cliffs or the nearby blue flag awarded Garryvoe beach. After a busy Christ-mas we all love escaping for an long relaxing week-end and treating ourselves to mouth-watering break-fasts, afternoon tea and a little something sweet. www.kilmahonhouse.com.

Robert Walshe is a travel broadcaster with Q Radio Network and Travel Editor for River Media newspaper titles across the island of Ire-land. www.robertwalshe.com

Pet’s Corner... with Kathleen Murray

Home and Away ExtraWeb tourism start-up, Audio Places Lim-

ited, has launched its new mobile audio tour app, “My Irish Guide”, described as “the audio guide app with an edge”. The announcement coincides with the launch of the website, www.myirishguide.com. The mobile app is available free to down-load from both iTunes and Google Play App Stores, with the option then of in-app pur-chasing one or more of the 6 audio tours currently available.

They include five of the most stunning scenic drives in Ireland and one witty walk-

ing tour of Dublin. The audio tours are sold as in-app purchases at a cost of €2.99 each to download and include: The Dublin Craic Tour (Walking Tour of Dublin City), The Garden Route (Wicklow), Into The West (Mayo & Galway), Atlantic Drive (Galway & Clare), Slea Head Drive (Dingle Peninsula, Kerry), and Ring of Kerry (Iveragh Penin-sula). Key points of interest within each tour are listed according to the narrative, but the visitor can start at any point on the tour, hence the product slogan: Your Route, Your Way, Your Guide.

n Kilmahon House Co Cork.n Kilmahon House Co Cork Dining Room.

Due to demand, this week, I will list the do’s and don’ts of buying and selling dogs for the information of peo-ple that are unsure. Selling dogs is a huge responsibil-ity. If you breed and sell then you need to be regis-tered with the Irish Kennel Club otherwise you are not a legitimate dog breeder.

Dog breeding is about im-proving the standard of the breed, not making money. You need to know what you are doing. You need to know about the breed, what size and shape it should be (measurements are impor-tant) and also know not to

breed from dogs that have “faults”. Faults are defects in the dog such as and over-shot/undershot jaw, too big, too small, wrong shaped skull/bone structure, wrong temperament (nervous or aggressive) etc etc.

There’s a lot to know. You should also know not to breed from dogs dur-ing their first heat and not to breed more than 6 lit-ters from a dog during its lifetime. You should know to have the pups wormed, vaccinated by a registered vet at 6 weeks for parvovi-rus, and to get them micro-chipped before they go to

their new owners. A pup should not be sold

before it is 8 weeks old. It should not be taken from its mother before that as it needs to learn valuable les-sons from her. The mother needs to be able to come and go without the pups being able to follow her. People that sell dogs with-out papers often sell them too young, not vaccinated (stamped by a registered vet) and they often breed their dogs long after they should have stopped breed-ing.

This is abuse and if you take more than 6 litters from

a dog then you are not car-ing for your dog properly. Dogs are not breeding ma-chines they are live animals that feel pain, get ill or often have to have operations to deliver their pups or die during birth.

People buying dogs should not pay money for a pedi-gree dog that has no papers with it. They should not pay money for a dog that is not pedigree full stop. This practice only encourages the abuse of animals. Well bred dogs don’t cost any more than badly bred dogs. Know what you are look-ing for. When you buy, you

should be able to meet the mother of the pups and see her interacting with the pup to know that she is the mother.

Breeding several breeds (pedigree) in the one place, for sale, is called puppy farming. In these circumstances the money is the main interest, not the poor dogs. Don’t buy from places like that. You are only creat-ing a de-mand for more dogs to be abused.

Buying and selling dogs without papers