Doire Liath, Bantry

Doire Liath B&B offers you a traditional irish family home welcome and is located on the outskirts of historical Bantry town centre (10minute walk) with its myriad of pubs, award winning restaurants and local hotels.
Our B&B is situated in the heart of the three pennisulas - Beara Peninsula to the north and the Sheeps Head and Mizen Peninsulas to the south. This beautiful quiet place is a world away from the rat race, allowing you to relax and unwind and is an ideal base for a walking, cycling or driving holiday. We offer secure off street private parking for guests and you can also choose to walk along the foreshore of Bantry bay with its breathtaking views of the Caha mountain range, this walkway is accessed directly behind our home and is about a 20minute easy stroll to the town centre.

We are ideally situated for exploring the nearby Mizen, Beara and Sheep’s Head peninsulas and can offer you packed lunches if you decide to spend the day walking or driving through the most spectacular scenery you will find anywhere in Ireland. Famous Gougane Barra is about a 20 minute drive from us inland through the spectacular “Pass of Keimeneigh” which literally means the “step of the deer”

On arrival to our home we offer you complimentary tea/coffee with homebaking and afternoon tea in our garden or comfortable sitting room with stunning views of nearby Seskin Mountain.

We are less then a mile from the Bantry Bay 18 hole golf club and the area also offers a variety of watersports, fishing, horse riding and sea angling. Doire Liath has an extensive breakfast menu with locally sourced west cork produce and freshly made soda bread and scones to give you a great start to the day.

All our rooms have televisions and ensuite facilities or own private bathrooms and our comfortable lounge with free wifi access is available for you to relax and unwind after the day’s activities with tea/coffee or something stronger if you wish!! We can also offer you an evening dinner menu by prior arrangement.

We are less then a 15minute walk to Bantry House, which is not only one of the finest historic houses in Ireland, but it also commands one of the best views overlooking Bantry Bay in West Cork. It has been open to the public since 1946, the first to do so in the country and possibly also in the British Isles. The house is still owned and lived in by The Shelswell-White family, who are direct descendants of Richard White (1st, Earl of Bantry).

Bantry Town:
Overlooking Bantry Bay in the heart of West Cork, Bantry town is situated just over 55miles (100kms) west of Cork city. It functions as a large Market town providing commercial, retail and tourism/leisure facilities for locals and visitors alike.

Bantry is an important tourism location and is a designated outdoor activity hub in west Cork with a wide variety of activities available all year round. Water sports, Horse riding, Angling and Cycling are some of the outdoor activities available in the area.

The town is conveniently situated between the Beara and Sheep’s head peninsulas giving access the to The Beara Way and the award winning Sheep’s Head Way with some of the finest walking tracks in the country in close proximity.

With a fine raised plaza in its main square over looking the harbour the town has a variety of small shops, cinema and businesses, restaurants and bars to choose from and is an ideal holiday location with plenty to offer all visitors. The majestic Bantry House overlooks the harbour with its beautiful gardens reaching down towards the shore where one can enjoy the spectacular views of the Caha Mountains across the bay. On the outskirts of the town there is easy access to the “Kilnaruane stone” which is the oldest ecclesiastical or early christian sites in the area dating from the 4th century.

As one of the larger towns in West Cork with a population of about 4000 people and a catchment area of about 12000 people, it is a busy community with plenty going on all year round.

Bantry is also host to the West Cork Chamber Music Festival, Masters of Tradition festival, West Cork Literary festival, Bay Run Half Marathon, and Bantry BBQ festival.
In 2012 Bantry was the host town for the prestigious Atlantic Challenge, an international contest of seamanship.
Only an hour from Cork and Kerry international airports Bantry is just a stones throw away and is an ideal location for your holiday in West Cork.

Bantry Bay Golf Club:

The 170 acre Bantry Bay Golf Club is a Christy O’Connor Junior and Eddie Hackett designed USGA standard course, located , a short drive outside Bantry town.
Bantry Bay Golf Club featurs an 18 hole Championship golf course, which is open year round. It is situated in a very scenic setting with 14 holes overlooking the bay. There are lovely sea views to the Islands and the Beara mountains.
The Bantry Bay golf course serves up a nice challenge to the scratch and handicap golfer alike, from the 126 meter par 3 to the long 487 meter par 5.
Although a relatively new course, it has attracted over 100 overseas members, perhaps enticed by lifetime overseas membership.

Visitors take note!!!
Bantry Bay Golf Club is an 18 hole championship golf course,the 4th best in Co Cork and 55th in Ireland as per "Golf Digest" magazine, special offers on green fees also available.Semi-open senior competitions every Wednesday at 12pm.

Sheeps Head Walks:
Short, sweet and scenic, this (The Sheeps Head Way) must be the best in Ireland. It takes in a superb moorland crest and rugged cliffs, as well as easy lowand terrain for country walking, cycling or driving.

There are few more beautifully located or more delightful walks in the whole of Ireland.then “The Sheep's Head Way” which is a fully marked 88km/55mile route and is ideal for self-guided walking with many loop walk facilities for those who wish to vary their route. Whether its walking, cycling or driving you will be able to explore one of the least known peninsulas along the Irish coastline and enjoy its tranquility, beauty and rugged landscape lapped by the Atlantic Ocean.

There are a number of historical and archeological monuments to be found amidst a spectacular landscape of mountains and sea. You will also have the chance to encounter an array of rare wild flowers, view the dolphins in the bay and take some time to acquaint yourself with some interesting bird life. The terrain varies as you progress along the route that usually goes out on the Bantry Bay side of the peninsula along a wide open rocky ridge with good vegetation cover. However there are wet patches as you progress to the lighthouse at the end of the peninsula. You return on the Dunmanus Bay side along gentler, low level farmland, moor and close knit villages. The average length of the walks each day is between 15 and 22 km's with the highest point being 345m and remember each walk can be tailored to suit your individual ability.

Beara Way:
The Cork / Kerry Mountains are to be found on the Beara Peninsula - part of the south-west coastal region of Ireland that was formed as the sea level rose between 4000-7000 years ago. This split the region into a number of mountainous peninsulas. Beara is one of the three largest of these peninsulas and the wonderful Beara Way winds through the mountains of the beautiful counties of Cork and Kerry.
As you are cycling walking or driving through this wonderful tapestry of rocky promontories, sheltered beaches, hills, mountains, archaeological sites, and castles – you won’t be disappointed, the Beara Peninsula has them all. It is really a glimpse of old Ireland, less commercialised then the better known Ring of Kerry to the north but beautiful in its magnificence.

Mizen Head Peninsula:
A sparsely populated peninsula of outstanding rugged beauty, Mizen is Ireland's most southerly point and at its lonely ocean swept head stands the Mizen Head Signal Station and Visitor Centre.
Beyond the town of Ballydehob, the Mizen Peninsula stretches its long finger southward through Schull, an attractive little fishing village, popular with sail boats in the summer, and on through the tiny village of Goleen. The road goes past the causeway linked island of Crookhaven a place where you can simply stop the world and get off and around Barley Cove Beach, a long stretch of sheltered sandy bay and the best beach in West Cork . From here the road winds along before stopping at the very edge of Europe, where the Atlantic Ocean crashes onto the dramatic rocks at Mizen Head. The landscape along the way is one of wild desolate beauty and isolated nooks and crannies of craggy rocks, breathtaking sea cliffs and hideaway coves.
At the head are the Visitor Centre and Signal Station, which stands on a dramatic promontory battered by the ocean and linked to the mainland by a solid arched bridge. An award winning maritime heritage museum the Visitor Centre includes displays on sea faring and mankind's relationship with the sea, on sea navigation and sea life. A walk down the 99 steps and across the bridge to the Signal Station brings you to the old Keeper's House, here you can see how the keepers at the station lived and worked from 1909 when it was built up until 1993 when the signal station was automated.
The real magic of Mizen Head is the breathtaking scenery of the landscape itself and of course the knowledge that you are at the very southern tip of Ireland, with the vast swell of the Atlantic sprawled out before you.

Gougane Barra
History: The name Guágan Barra derives from St. Finbar, who according to tradition, built his monastery on the island here in the 6th century. Guágan was at one time part of the territories of the O'Leary's who lost possession of the land in the plantation that followed the Cromwellian wars. Subsequently it passed to the Townsend family and ultimately the farming tenants under the Land Acts in the early part of this century. The ruins on the island are not part of St. Finbar's original settlement but were erected around 1700 by Rev. Denis O'Mahony who, following the footsteps of St. Finbar, retired to a life of asceticism here. Because of its isolation, in the days of the Penal Laws people travelled from areas far beyond the bounds of the valley to hear Mass in Guágan Barra. One of the most famous 'Mass Path' was that which led from the Borlin Valley to the west via Gowlane Stream and down into Com Rua by way of the savage cleft of Poll. It is one of the oldest pilgrimage destinations in munster and has been referred to as the “Camino of West Cork”