The west coast of Ireland

At. Ballymaloe, we enjoyed having lunch with the students in one of the 2 main dining rooms. There I met a  charming Dutch girl Charlotte who was following the course. Hopefully I may one day dine in her wine and food bar in Amsterdam.
After lunch Darinas' husband Tim took us around the gardens, and organic farm, much of which is under glass. This part of Ireland is influenced by the warmer Gulf Stream so there where rhodidendrums in flower. In the wild garden the spring flowers where beginning to flower and we visited a most beautiful shell house there. Then the dairy, where they have a cheeses and yoghurt making room, for the milk from their 5 jersey cows. The students get to experience all facets of food production in this way. Even the local butcher pops in on Saturdays to make Pizzas with Tim.
That night we went to a slow food meeting in Middleton quite nearby, we even took Darina with us in the camper. She is absolutely the motor behind this movement. The meeting was held in Sage a restaurant run by a young chef. Everything apart from the salt pepper and vinegar is sourced from within 12 miles. It was a great evening beginning with a tasting plate of blood pudding, rillete sausage, smoked salmon on fried skins, Mackerel with confit apple and few more things absolutely delicious. Then a very tasty piece of beef served with bearnaise sauce and vegetables. 
I was asked to tell a bit about the slow food youth movement in Holland which is so active, this is not yet the case in Ireland.
We enjoyed a super nights sleep dan la Maison and then breakfast of home made yoghurt, bread and marmalade. 
Darina has written a book 30 years at Ballymaloe, that was ALSO my idea for La Cuisine Francaise, just now I decided to start my http://www.patspantry.org instead. Maybe one day the book will come! Who knows what my future will be now. 

Since then we have meandered along the south coast to Baltimore where we dined on crab sandwiches, sitting on a terrace looking out over the estuary. Then to Bantry bay. Here we stayed 2 nights due to the high winds. We visited a beautiful house and gardens and dined on mussels and Mackerel in a local seafood restaurant , we passed the time of day, with a few local shopkeepers, oh it was so lovely looking out over the sea from Pattys wagon. 
We had decided to drive around the Beara peninsula, what views, perfect weather, turquoise blue patches in the sea, scudding clouds , and no one on the roads and the view from our seats superb, like being in a theatre. 
That night we stopped in a small natural camping in between the rhodidendrums, as yet not in flower. Simple but charming. No not nude camp! Nature