Purity Belle Environmental Blog

Donegal - Raphoe and Oakfield Park

by Cliona Kelliher - Tuesday, September 15, 2020

I'm a bit late getting to this post as we returned from holidays ages ago, but between work and family stuff, I just couldn't seem to find the time to settle down and write. However, I wanted to share two new places to visit in Donegal. If you are a regular reader of my blog you will know that Donegal is one of my favourite places and we go there almost every year. You would think at this point that there would be nothing left that is new to us, but there's always some wonderful new disovery - helped of course by having a Donegal native as tour guide :)

We headed to Raphoe in east Donegal (not too far from Tyrone border) for our first visit to Oakfield Park - en route though, we stopped off to visit the Bealtany Stone Circle. This is a really incredible place - there is a small area to park and a short track up to the field itself, where the circle is situated. It's very impressive as stone circles go, large and with an integral circular shape of 64 stones (remaining out of the original 80). Perhaps it is fanciful, but the sense of peace there was tangible - we all felt it. It comes upon you as you approach the circle and even if you don't believe in the power of past spirits, the harmony of the construction is something to behold.

Standing in the steps of our ancestors always feels a little magical to me and I imagined cloaks and horses and majestic rituals. The name Bealtany comes from Bealtaine, meaning 'bright fire', the Irish for May Day, a major Celtic festival which marks the beginning of Summer and which would have been marked with bonfires - for celebration and protection. So this magnificent place with panoramic views, would have undoubtedly been the centre of many rituals and it was something special to imbibe those ancient spirits for a little while.

We had a brief look around Raphoe also - interesting for its castle and masonic building. I think perhaps some people are more sensitive to the atmosphere of a place than others, and the castle here has a forbidding and shadowy presence which I found uncomfortable. Given its history, that is probably not surprising. It has a bloody association with plantations and violence - Bishop Leslie who built the castle, was known as 'The Fighting Bishop' and the castle itself was put under attack many times - by such people as Cromwell and the United Irishmen. The castle was destroyed by an accidental fire in 1838 and has been in ruins since.

Unsurprisingly, given the motto above the door 'Hear See and Remain Silent, I found little concrete history on the masonic hall in Raphoe, but it is an interesting building with masonic symbols on the front - the lodge dates from 1870 but the building itself from 1903 - according to Buildings of Ireland.

There are other things to see in Raphoe but we wanted to get to Oakfield Park so we headed off.

Oakfield Park is a spacious verdant estate with a house which was built in 1739 for the Dean of Raphoe. It was then acquired by Thomas Butler Stoney, who then left it to his son. The house has passed through ownership a number of times until it was bought by Gerry Robinson in 1996. Gerry and his wife Heather did major restoration and refurbishment work on the house and grounds and the estate is now a wonderful tranquil place to visit. As we visited in these pandemic times, we preferred to bring a picnic and stay away from people. This was easy enough to do as the gardens are spread out extensively. I loved the space and the varied sculptures and there is a train (interestingly, I saw recently on a tv program that Gerry is a talented carpenter and made some of the train) which goes around the garden. The lower lake has swans and a folly and there are little woodland areas and a tea room. Towards the house, at the time we visited, my favourite thing was the wildflower meadow. It was absolutely glorious, abundant with colour and happily buzzing insects. It was honestly one of the most beautiful wildflower meadows I have ever seen.

The nymphaeum at the upper lake was another one of my favourite parts - it is wonderfully tranquil and gentle

In a little wooded area we came across this magnificent tree, isn't it incredible?!

Sculptures are dotted around and there are little ponds with fish and water lillies. There is so much to see and plenty of space for kids to run around too. There are picnic tables and good parking and toilet facilities on site and there is partial wheelchair access. (There is a wheelchair carriage on the train).

The fairy tree is adorable -

I spent a wee bit of time reading through the messages and I was struck by this one in particular:

Aaron seems like a lovely young man and I'm sure his parents are really proud of his kindness.

I really recommend Oakfield - it's €9 per adult at time of writing and there are family rates. There are also events throughout the year and Santa Express tickets can be booked at the moment. I think there is probably something to suit everyone here. You could easily spend an entire day and bring a picnic or go to the restaurant. It is outdoors of course, so weather dependent but it is open from Wednesday to Sunday in September so not too late to plan a visit for this year. Check out their website for current info and events listings.

So that brings me to the end and probably another year before I get to Donegal again but hopefully sooner!

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Visting Sligo - A Short Stay in Yeats' Country

by Cliona Kelliher - Saturday, August 15, 2020

We try to get to Donegal every year - it's my favourite place in the country and I have written about our visits there a few times - you can read some of my more recent posts here - Road Trip Home and Exploring Donegal and the North West. We've always tended to just drive by Sligo as we're usually tired at that point of the journey and in a hurry to get to Donegal. This year, however, we decided to spend two nights in County Sligo on the way back and take the time to have a proper look around. We had booked into the Coach House at Kingsfort. I want to give a special mention to this, as it was really lovely and good value. Our room was bright and airy and overlooking the family garden, continental breakfast was delicious and very substantial and the hosts were so welcoming and friendly. It just had a gorgeous relaxed vibe and was a great location in terms of getting out and about and visiting various places. The hosts recommended some places which was brill and the area is really gorgeous, very near Lough Gill.

But I am getting slightly ahead of myself - our first stop (coming from Donegal) was the Gleniff Barytes Mill area - I wasn't aware of this before but it's the perfect spot for a picnic. Maybe it was the sunshine but it felt a little bit magical and special. The sound of the river was murmuring in the background and we went a little way along the woodland path by the river and it just seemed a little bit dreamy and otherworldly with the lush green and mossy path. We didn't have a picnic but just stopped for a wee while before we continued on to the Horseshoe.

You can walk to the horseshoe from here - it's a 10k loop - unfortunately I have a chronic glutes injury which causes me huge pain if I walk too much - and also slightly embarrassing to explain to people that it's my butt that is the problem! So we drove around the horseshoe and it was absolutely stunning, I'm so glad we got there. Incredible views of Ben Bulben and you can also glimpse the sea in the distance - there are a few places along the route that you can pull in and take pictures or just look around.

We then went to have a look at Ballindoon Priory and if you like ruins (as I do!) it is well worth a visit. Worth noting though, that there isn't parking and it's necessary to park at the farmhouse opposite the field where the ruin is. We did ask permission so it was fine, but it felt a bit intrusive all the same. The Priory is also known as St. Mary's Priory and was founded in 1507 by Thomas O'Farrell and is a Middle English Gothic style church (source: Megalithic Ireland Website). There are a set of stone steps outside which lead to an upper level. The steps looked pretty precarious so we didn't go up them but they are an interesting feature for sure!

The following morning, on the recommendation of our host, we headed to Cullenamore beach for a relaxed walk. It is less busy than Strandhill and being quieter, suits me much better. Loads of rocks with fossils there if you have kids who like fossil hunting! Also lots of biodiversity and pretty flowers and butterflies in the grassy areas.

After that we headed to Sligo for food and sat outside Sweet Beet Café (another recommendation from our hosts) with a delicious vegan wrap and great coffee. I really enjoyed Sligo - it's a bit weird to be back in a bustling place again after almost two weeks of remote places but it has a lovely vibe. Lots of pedestrianised areas and nice shop fronts and places to eat. We got vegan carrot cake in the Sligo Wellness Centre - seriously delicious!

We had just paid for 2 hours parking and that was plenty of time.

Back to our room then for a bit of rest and on our final evening in Ballintogher, we went to Slishwood for a walk. It's a Coillte owned forest right by Lough Gill and this whole area inspired W.B. Yeats - Slishwood is referred to in 'The Stolen Child' as 'Sleuth Wood in the lake' and it's not hard to see how it might inspire. We went quite late and didn't do the full walk, but the sense of peace was incredible - the lake stretches out into the distance, as still as glass, with reflections of different colours and a view of Ben Bulben in the far distance.

It was a beautiful way to spend the last evening but all good things must come to an end and the next day we had to set off for home.

First however, we did a quick visit to Parkes Castle which is very near Ballintogher -and also on Lough Gill. There is another Yeats reference here as the Lake Isle of Inisfree sits within Lough Gill. Pre covid it was possible to do a boat tour of the lake, passing by Inisfree, but sadly this is not going at the moment., Parkes Castle is an OPW site and although it is not possible (at time of writing) to see inside the castle because of Covid, the guide did say that it might be an option in the future when they can work out the social distancing aspects. There was no charge on the day we were there and there is a one way system in with sanitiser at the entrance. We could just see the courtyard and the forge but it was well worth a visit - it's an imposing building and the views are amazing. I would love to come back at some stage and see the inside also, as the guide said it had been meticulously restored.

Well, that brings me to the end of our Sligo visit, I hope you have gotten some ideas for places to go.

Click here for more of my Places to Visit

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Iron and Velvet Plastic Free Household Cleaner Review

by Cliona Kelliher - Thursday, July 09, 2020

In my quest to reduce plastic for #plasticfreejuly, I decided to try the zero waste sachets from Iron and Velvet, available from thekind.co. I also bought two of the amber glass bottles because I was making my own cleaner at the same time. This is just a quick review of the products and to be clear from the start, this is not a sponsored post, I bought the products at full price.

First up, the bottles seem to be in short supply because I had a wee bit of a wait - they are listed on Amazon also but I preferred to get them from a small supplier and was happy to wait. I had made my own cleaning solution which was a bottle of white vinegar, infused with lemon rinds (just whatever I had, which was maybe two large lemons) and some sprigs of rosemary from the garden.

As you can see, I used one of my Kilner jars for this so that I could just leave for a while.

It was approximately two weeks that the solution was in the jar and once I got the amber bottles, I decanted the fluid into one, removing the rind and rosemary, and tried cleaning with it. My verdict is that it's very effective as a cleaner. It left my kitchen sink super shiny and was as good as any other cleaner I have used, when tested in the bathroom. The one downside is that it does still smell quite strongly of vinegar - you can get the lemon also which offsets it a little, but if you don't like the smell of vinegar, it might be a bit offputting.

So an alternative you might like to try is the zero waste sachets - I thought these were such a brilliant idea. They come in a little cute brown box with 5 sachets for different uses and stickers - so there are antibacterial surface cleaners and a glass and mirror cleaner.

The one I tried was a pink sachet containing antibacterial surface cleaner. You basically just pop the sachet into the bottle of water (instructions are given in the leaflet) and it dissolves quite quickly. The fragrance is Ylang Ylang but it smells weirdly like bubblegum to me - which I quite like! I did wonder about the ingredients but when I checked the website I saw the following:

'Since the end of 2017 we have been developing our products using plant derived, sustainably sourced active ingredients as well as pure essential oils for our fragrances wherever possible meaning up to 70% of our products are fully natural ingredients'

This kind of reassured me, although not a guarantee that these products are completely eco-friendly.

Cleaning wise, again I tested in the bathroom and it worked perfectly, leaving sinks shiny, removing dirt easily and leaving no residue or anything.

The Amber bottles are perfect and I will probably get some more, the spray nozzle works great and they are a good size and very sturdy.

Price wise, the sachets are normally €15.00 but the Kind currently have reductions so they are (at time of writing) €13.50.

The Amber bottles are now €4.50 but normally €5.00

I think that either making your own or using the sachets, are both good options for reducing plastic and waste. So many things come in plastic that it can be very hard to avoid so I am delighted to see manufacturers coming up with other options.