County Galway holiday cottage: Clifden

This is a gorgeous house in a great location just outside Clifden. It's been beautifully restored and extended with all mod cons but the owners have managed to keep many of the original features such as the high ceilings, fireplaces and rugged stone walls.

In particular I loved the antique cottage furniture which must have taken years to assemble.

There were eight of us staying but there's so much room we never felt on top of each other. There are horses in the field beside the house, oysters for sale up the road and a lady nearby who'll come and cook your dinner if you don't feel like shopping.

And what a view from the front of the house across the bay to the Sky Road! In one direction you can head into Clifden, always lively with its pubs, shops and restaurants while in the other within 5 minutes you can be enjoying the total peace and silence of Omey Island with no sound but the lapping of waves and the call of seagulls.

Omey is joined to the mainland for half the day but when the tide comes in across the strand it transforms into an island for the other half. It's one of Ireland's best kept secrets and right on your doorstep.

It was such a relaxing holiday and sitting in front of a turf fire in the evenings sipping a glass of wine as the sun slipped below the horizon made you feel you never wanted to leave.

I'd recommend this house to anyone who wants a holiday in a really comfortable, well equipped house in one of the loveliest parts of Connemara. We'll be back.