At home B&Bs are like ours - you interact with the hosts in the evening, maybe even have breakfast with them. Over there, you are shown to your room, asked what time you'd like breakfast, if you're quick you can ask where to go for dinner and what's the wifi code, and then you're left to it.
Mostly this suited us as the evenings were spent on the internet trying to find the next night's accommodation!
I think the one that came the closet to perfect was at Brosnan's in Dingle.
In Carlow we had a VERY amorous couple through the wall!
In Cork we didn't even try the shower.
Doolin we had to write our breakfast order the night before, on a sheet of pad left in the lobby.
Some places were cold (heating on a timer), lots of toilets moved! some showers worked well, some didn't. Most were on at least the second floor and some were even higher! Usually up steep narrow stairs built hundreds of years ago and not made for hauling suitcases up! Ken built up such muscles carting our suitcase up and down.
We thought the worst B&B was Shandon Bells in Cork - looked lovely on the website - haha!! But when we got to Paddy's House B&B in Dublin we now thought Shandon Bells was beautiful!!
This was really the 'bad and the ugly' !!It really is a hostel not a B&B. All you got was a bed, another wobbly loo, dirty shower..... could use the kitchen if you could work around the filth. Website said breakfast snacks, fruit, all day tea and coffee available. When I asked about the breakfast snacks I was told, 'oh yeah, someone bought some croissants one day, hahah....'
When we visited Cornwell/Devon/Somerset area for 10 days we found the B&Bs were much the same as Ireland, but nothing as bad as Paddys!!
The breakfasts were usually FABULOUS - set us up for the day and we didn't eat again until our evening meal, which was often in a pub. the pub meals were so yummy and reasonably priced on the whole.
The full Irish breakfast consisted of egg, bacon, tomato, mushroom (sometimes) white pudding, sausage, (black pudding if you wanted). the first time we were served the white pudding we had to ask what it was. It is made of pork mince, breadcrumbs, herbs and spice - sooooo delicious. In Cornwell they call it hog's pudding.
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| Paddy's House Belfast - not much room! |
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| Ballintoy B&B built 1737, our room the small top window |
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| Gabriel, mine host, at the village of Saul |
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| Paddy's Lazy Orchard, pub & B&B at Saul |
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| The Port Rosslare Lodge |
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| Inishross B&B, New Ross |
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| Abbeyvale B&B, Holycross |
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| The shower we didn't use, Shandon Bells, Cork. Check out their website www.shandonbells.com False advertising?? |
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| The view as we approached our farmhouse B&B on Sheepshead near Bantry |
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| Doonmacfelim B&B Doolin Our room upstairs 2nd from left |
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| Ennislare House Bangor, our room the upstairs bay |
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