Irish Singer, Daniel O’Donnell and his wife, Majella stayed with us at Moy River in early July as part of the making of their new television show, The Daniel and Majella’s B&B Road Trip.

We were one of twelve B&Bs throughout the 32 counties who were chosen to participate in the programme. The couple were just lovely; down to earth and really interested in the local area and in our new venture. They were very impressed with the Cloonacool region; Daniel described it as “a really lovely place hidden away from it all”. They said they will be back again bringing friends with them next time!

A feature of this visit was a really great session of song and dance in the company of our very own Cloonacool Strawboys! Daniel and Majella were enthralled by the spectacle and joined in the fun and games with ease. Another lovely aspect of the time they spent with us was the time we had to chat with each other and swap stories and experiences. At breakfast there were no cameras present so we were able to give them all our attention and set them on the road to their next accommodation for the programme.

Moy River B&B was only established this year and has had a very busy initiation into the business receiving guests from all over the globe. In the age of Internet communications we are likely to get guests from as far away as the Dominican Republic and as close to home as Donegal – and we have had them all. Regardless of where people come from, we give everyone the same welcome and while Daniel and Majella were more celebrity than most, we treated them like we treat all our guests. The TV cameras added a degree of difficulty to this particular visit but really enjoyed the experience.

We like to do as much home cooking as we can using local produce whenever possible. Our own home produced eggs are a real favourite. In promoting the business, we make a feature of the fact that we are a place of peace and quiet just off the beaten track. Many guests comment on the beauty and solitude of this part of the Ox Mountain where the river Moy has its source.

The Daniel and Majella B&B Road Trip show featuring Moy River airs on UTV Ireland at 8pm on Monday 26th October.

About 200,000 years ago glaciers ground their way through southern Sligo on their way to the sea, carving the countryside through which it moved. When the ice receded 10,000 years ago, one of Ireland’s most beautiful and unspoilt areas was revealed, sculpted with valleys and shimmering with lakes. It is also a region rich in tradition and home to some of Ireland’s most famous musicians.

Carrowkeel is a Neolithic passage tomb cemetery in the south of County Sligo, near Boyle, County Roscommon. Circumstantial Carbon 14 dating places the tombs at between 5400 and 5100 years old (3400 to 3100 BC), so that they predate the Pyramids on Egypt’s Giza plateau by 500–800 years. Carrowkeel is set on high ground above Lough Arrow and contains fourteen passage tombs located there. Twelve more passage tombs are located close by, most of which form part of the Keshcorran complex. A particular type of crude pottery found in passage tombs has been titled Carrowkeel Ware, having first been recorded in the Carrowkeel Monuments.

Close to Lough Arrow and just north of Carrowkeel is another, apparently related, giant passage tomb, Heapstown Cairn. This is part of the legendary Moytura, site of battles between the Tuatha Dé Danann, the ancient gods of Ireland, and the demonic Fomorians.

Carrowmore is one of the four major passage tomb complexes in Ireland. It is located at the geographical centre of the Cúil Irra peninsula in County Sligo and 3 km west of Sligo town. This is one of the largest (in terms of number of monuments) complexes of megalithic tombs in Ireland and is also among the oldest used passage tombs, the earliest depositions approximately 3700 BC.

Placed on a small plateau at an altitude of between 36.5 and 59 meters above sea level Carrowmore is the focal point of a prehistoric ritual landscape which is dominated by the mountain of Knocknarea to the west with the great cairn of Miosgán Médhbh on top. To the east is Carns Hill with two large cairns overlooking Lough Gill.

Tubbercurry or Tobercurry is the second-largest town in County Sligo. It lies at the foot of the Ox Mountains, on the N17 national primary road. The earliest mention of Tubbercurry is from 1397 when a battle took place in the town between two O’Connor families, the O’Connor Don from Roscommon and the O’Connors from Sligo town. St. Nathy is the patron saint of the area.

Tubbercurry boasts two of the most popular and successful festivals in the West of Ireland; the South Sligo Summer School of Irish traditional music and the Western Drama Festival held every year. These events attract large numbers of performing artists and cultural tourists from all over the world. There is also an annual Old Fair Day held in Tubbercurry every August.

Lough Talt is situated in the heart of the Ox Mountains south Sligo on the road to Ballina.  It is a glacier lake and lies at approximately 500 ft above sea level and measures 67 ft at its deepest point. Its area is nearly 194 acres. The lake is a noted site of picture perfect sunsets on calm evenings, as the sun sinks over “The Windy Gap”.

The Lake is a good source of brown trout. Arctic char are also reported to be still present in the deeper waters of the lake. The trout are free rising and their weight averages about a half pound. The Lough Talt mountain pass is popular among walkers. It has a 6.5 km circuit winding around its shore. It also serves as the starting point for The Sligo Way, a 74 km long linear trail that ends in the village of Dromahair in Leitrim County.

Sligo is the county town of County Sligo. With a population of approximately 20,000 in 2014, it is both the largest urban centre and the regional capital of the northwest of Ireland. Despite its relatively small size, Sligo is an historic, cultural, commercial, industrial, retail and service centre of regional importance. Served by established rail, port and road links, Sligo exerts a significant influence on its hinterland.

Sligo is also a popular tourist destination, being situated in an area of outstanding natural beauty, with many literary and cultural associations.

William Butler Yeats was born in Dublin 150 years ago in 1865. The young Yeats was very active in societies that attempted an Irish literary revival. His plays usually included Irish legends; they also reflect his fascination with mysticism and spiritualism. He was a regular visitor to Sligo and was inspired by its landscape.

After 1910, Yeats’s dramatic art took a sharp turn toward a highly poetical style. Although a convinced patriot, Yeats deplored the hatred and the bigotry of the Nationalist movement, and his poetry is full of moving protests against it. He was appointed to the Irish Senate in 1922. Yeats’ poetry made him one of the outstanding and most influential twentieth-century poets writing in English.

Michael Coleman was born near Killavil in County Sligo in 1891. He competed at the Sligo Feis Ceoil in 1909 and again in 1910. In October 1914, at the age of twenty-three, Coleman sailed to America. Between 1921 and 1936 he recorded roughly eighty records.

Coleman was the most famous exponent of what is today known as the Sligo fiddle style, which is fast and flamboyant, and heavily ornamented. Coleman became renowned for his extensive melodic variations, and his settings of tunes such as “The Boys of the Lough,” “Bonny Kate” and “Lord Gordon’s Reel”, have become part of the standard Irish fiddle repertoire. Coleman died in New York in 1945 and is buried in St. Raymond’s Cemetery in the Bronx.

Tracing your roots? Maybe I can help.

I have a good local knowledge of family names, places were records are held as well as web-based archives. If you are searching for your family origins in South Sligo or are just wanting to research your ancestry, There are lots of ways and means.

The Griffith Valuations of 1857, the 1901 and 1911 census reports are all now documented in detail on-line. These are great places to start your research process. Church records of baptisms and marriages are also great places to look and are available in nearly all churches local to your origins. Parish Priests are usually the custodians of this information and are generally available and helpful.

If you think I can help, please call, 071 9121902.

A group of children from our local school visited to learn how people lived 100 – 150 years ago. The paraffin lamps and the fresh soda bread baked on the open fire, were a big hit! We were delighted to be part of their history project.

The children were facinated by many aspects of the cottage and the lives of those who lived there in the past. Were did they wash? how many bedrooms? and where did they go to use the toilet?

The baking of a soda bread cake on the open fire was the real highlight of the visit. Few of the chilrden could imagine the amount of work and the few comforts that such a home contained in times past. The recipe for the soda bread was simple but the recipe for baking it in a metal oven surrounded by hot coals was more tricky!

4 cups of white flour
1 teaspoon of bread soda
I egg
A pinch of salt
1 ounce of butter
Buttermilk (to create a soft dough)

Baking take about 40 minutes.