My Mayo holiday – Janet Hannon, Dublin

“We’re coming for the last 16 or 17 years and we still find somewhere different to go every time.”


Janet Hannon
Clontarf, Dublin

We started coming to Mayo in the late 70s because we had a relation living in Glenisland. We came from Clontarf with the family and we spent at least ten years backwards and forwards to Mayo visiting our relation.
The children absolutely loved the freedom, the excitement, playing with their cousins and all of the different things they could do. Blackberry picking, fishing, chasing about the place you name it.
When my relative moved back to Dublin we did a tour of different counties in Ireland but our hearts were always in Mayo, so in 1993 we found a lovely guesthouse in Carracastle near Charlestown and we’ve been coming back ever since.
The fishing here is just up my husband Charlie’s street. The golf is exceptional, as are all the different places we have been to. We’re coming for the last 16 or 17 years and we still find somewhere different to go every time. We get lost and we find our way back again at our leisure. Wherever we go there’s always a fantastic welcome for us.
Where we stay is very central for where we want to go. It’s quiet, it’s secluded, we can escape there, but if we want to go on a drive or a tour we have lots of choices. During our time travelling around here we have visited Leitrim, Sligo and I think every corner of Mayo. We enjoy going to the Ceide Fields, Louisburgh and Ballina. I can’t say which is my favourite place. I think it’s just the atmosphere, the friendliness and the relaxation.
The way things are we will be coming back to Mayo well in to our eighties, god help us!