COUNTY CORK - Kinsale, A Vibrant Seaside Village

On the way back to Cork from Clonakilty, after driving through stunning countryside and harbours, we stopped off in the small seaside town of Kinsale. Kinsale is set in a picturesque harbour itself and has become known for its colourful streets, vibrant culinary scene and rich history, which includes pirates! Whilst I was researching our trip, I listened to many podcasts from Rick Steves and I remember him mentioning multiple times how lovely Kinsale was, and it certainly lived up to the hype!

We stopped off for only a short wander around but we arrived to lovely blue skies and a warm afternoon. We found a playground along the waterfront to play in, then wandered further into the main streets where we enjoyed an icecream (the girls) and pint of Guinness ( Braino ) and a browse around the boutique shops (myself). And of course, we stopped off in a quaint little bookshop. Playgrounds, icreceams and bookshops are our winning combination to keep the girls happy. Although we have be fortunately enough to be able to sign up to the libraries here in Ireland and we’ve been borrowing plenty of books, which saves us having to negotiated the purchase of books at all the bookshops we pop in to.

If we had more time in Kinsale, I would have like to check out Charles Fort, which is the large star shaped ruins of a military fort that stands on the headland and overlooks the harbour. It was pretty fascinating to see the miniature version of it at the Model Rail Village, so it would have been cool to wander around the real site.

COUNTY CORK - West Cork Model Railway, Handcrafted History and Miniature Trains

We travelled down to Cork for two nights, to see more of the south coast of Ireland. After visiting The Rock of Cashel on the way, we stayed at Maldron Hotel in Cork City. It was a fantastic hotel; the room had three single beds and a double for Braino and I. It was a really spacious room with a nice modern bathroom. The hotel also had an indoor pool, which is such a hit with the girls. They really love swimming and are very confident in the water. We’ve had lots of comments from people saying how good at swimming they are. We have to explain that we are actually from Australia, and swimming is a huge part of our culture. In Ireland, many kids older than Farley are still using flotation devices. Swimming just isn’t as high a priority in Ireland as it is in Australia.

On the first afternoon that we arrived, we headed out to explore Cork City as the hotel was within walking distance. However, we were left a little disappointed. It was rainy and coldish and it was a Sunday evening, so I don’t think we really went at the optimal time, but it didn’t have the same sort of vibe as Dublin. It was a bit bleak with some questionable characters. So we decided to look further a field for things to do on the following day. However, one thing in the city that would been good was the Blackrock Castle Observatory which is a planetarium in an old castle, but it unfortunately wasn’t open on the days that we were there. Farley would have loved it.

Many people come to Cork for Blarney Castle, which is only about 20 minutes out of town. It’s one of the most iconic tourist sights in Ireland and it’s famous for the Blarney Stone, which you can lay on your back, lean over the edge of the castle, and kiss. It’s also known as the ‘Stone of Eloquence’ and is meant to give you the ‘gift of the gab’. I’ve actually kissed it already when I visited Ireland for 2 days back when I was 19 and Braino wasn’t at all keen to kiss the stone - he’s already got the ability to strike up a conversation with anyone, haha! So we decided to give the Blarney Castle a miss. In terms of prices, it’s one of the more expensive castles to visit. I remember the gardens around the castle being lovely, but in terms of value for money and avoiding crowds, it didn’t seem like a good choice.

One thing we did decide to do, which we knew would be great value for money for the kids, was the West Cork Model Railway Village in Clonakilty.

The West Cork Railway Village contains miniature versions of four different West Cork towns, Kinsale, Clonakilty, Bandon and Dunmanway, based on how they were in the 1940’s when the towns were served by the West Cork Railway.

All the miniature buildings and tiny people have been lovingly handcrafted by local tradesmen, while there are miniature trains that connect each town. The Model Village was opened in 1994 and has proved to be a great, family friendly way to learn about the history of the area, in particular the West Cork Railway which was in operation from 1886 to 1961. The level of detail was incredible! I really appreciate the time, effort and skill that would gone into creating the buildings, all based on real locations. The tiny people and little scenes throughout the towns were extra impressive.

The kids absolutely loved the place, in particular Hallie, who has always had a fascination with trains. But Farley has also developed an appreciation for miniature models of towns and landscapes. The girls also loved steering the remote control boats and having a go of the mini diggers. Although our one gripe would be that you needed extra coins for the boats and the diggers; the website gave us the impression that they were all included in the admission prices.

But what was also included in the admission price was a little train ride into town and back. The train was a novelty train with wheels that could go on the public roads. We also saw a similar one in Kilkenny, designed to give tourists an overall view of the main streets. The girls love it, and Braino and I made the most of being the daggy tourist parents that wave to all the locals in the town.

Afterwards, we headed into the town and had lunch (although there was a cafe onsite at the Model Rail Village and it was picnic friendly too). I really liked the town of Clonakilty, it was very colourful and tidy and had a really nice medium size vibe to it. I’d probably recommended staying here or Kinsale, which is where we headed next…..