TRAVEL

Home & Away with Robert Walshe

Home and Away Extra

Floating 350kms above the earth, the hotel will be pretty basic - no ensuites, no showers and only freeze-dried food to eat and yet it will cost £100,000 for a short break, making it the most expensive boutique hotel in the universe. However, it will offer the best ever views. There’ll be no excursions, no smoking, no drinking and only a TV and the internet for en-tertainment, but the Russian company which unveiled its plans for the first space hotel this week promised it would be more comfortable than the International Space Station .It could also represent a great sales opportunity for some savvy travel agents. The flight is likely to set holidaymakers back a further £500,000, bring-ing the total spend for a three-day trip to £600,000

LivingAlmost 1.8 million people visited

Ireland between April and June, a 15.6 per cent increase on the same period last year. Quarterly figures from the Central Statistics Office show a significant increase in the number arriving from the UK, North America and Europe. The surge came during a period when Queen Elizabeth II and US president Bar-rack Obama visited Ireland and the Aviva Stadium hosted the UEFA Europa League final between Portu-guese sides Porto and Braga. How-ever, the corresponding period in 2010 was particularly difficult for the tourist industry with hundreds of European flights cancelled in April and May as a result of the vol-canic ash cloud. When compared to the same period in 2009, there was a decrease of about 120,000 in the number of visitors to Ireland with the largest drop off in the key UK market where visitor numbers fell by about 11 per cent from 858,000 to 761,000. The most recent fig-ures show growth in the numbers traveling here from North America. Visitor numbers rose from 264,000 last year to 308,800, which repre-sented a 1 per cent rise on the 2009 figure. The numbers arriving from Europe, the market hardest hit by the ash cloud last year, recovered from 500,500 to 620,700. However, the number of Europeans traveling to Ireland was more than 37,000 lower than in the same period of 2009.Tourism Ireland welcomed the improvement in visitor numbers but acknowledged the impact of the ash cloud on the previous year’s statistics.

Weekend HideawayMarlfield House, Gorey, Co Wex-

ford is a Blue Book property first opened in 1978 run by a mother-and-daughter combination of Mary and Margaret Bowe, but Mary has retired, and now the house is run by Margaret and her sister, Laura and I just cant help feeling elated by their addiction to what is Irelands most luxurious country house and gardens. Built in the 1830s and once the dower house of the Earls of Courtown, Marlfield House’s au-thentic classic design and décor with modern amenities has become a regular for visitors to the sunny southeast including many famous

faces like Robert Red-ford, Tom Hanks and U2.The interior is lux-urious in the extreme with accommodation options including six state and twelve supe-rior rooms all uniquely designed using period pieces, fine linen, deep-pile carpets, antique furniture and regal four poster beds..This Re-gency style house is full of antiques and classic pieces that transport you back to the days of gracious living and this stately combination of-fers a feeling of refined elegance. The extensive gardens provide numerous country activities; including equestrian en-deavors, archery, fox hunting, golf, croquette, tennis, castle tours, tours and long walks along the nearby beach at Courtown are also possi-ble. Marlfield House leads the way on food reputation and quality and my dining experience. was excep-tional. The dining room and Turner-style conservatory merge into one, providing modern Irish cuisine with a range of fresh produce including fresh herbs, vegetables fruit, wild salmon, spring lamb, Bannow Bay oysters, Wexford mussels and beef. My only concern was the use of rich butter and cream sauces irresistible to taste but upsetting on the hips!

The selection of Irish artisan cheeses with baked biscuits, home made apple jelly and caramelised walnuts were also gorgeous. The Sunday lunch time recitals continue for the autumn with performances in the intimacy of the state “print room “preceded by a four course lunch in the conservatory. The next installment is on the 25th Septem-ber and features Gabriela Istock Soprano accompanied by Mihaela Chirvase Mezzo Soprano and Dim-itri Papadimitrou concert pianist.

Lunch will be served at 12.30 fol-lowed by the recital at 3.30. Tick-ets are €63 per person for lunch and recital; recital only tickets are €20. Very special bed and break-fast rates from €70 per person shar-ing are available on Sunday nights and from €80 per person sharing on Saturday nights. Known as the

“Sunny South East,” the county of Wexford provides the best year-round Irish weather, historic sites and a laid-back atmosphere ideal for a relaxing trip. With more than 70 miles of white beaches and some of the top golf courses in the coun-try, Wexford has a large tourist fol-lowing.

The city and its surrounding area offer some of Ireland’s finest hotels, many of which offer special ameni-ties for four-legged family members.Marlfield House set on 35 acres of grounds and woodlands is a mem-ber of Ireland’s Blue Book and has won numerous accolades for its charm, welcome and cuisine and rightly so.!! www.marlfieldhouse.com

Weekly Best BuyAutumn is the perfect time to dis-

cover the wonderful English coun-tryside on a walking break. Base yourself at a Hideaways cottage and you’ll have scenic footpaths on the doorstep and a cosy, welcom-ing retreat to return to at the end of the day. For gentle, level walks with a constantly-moving backdrop, nothing beats a canal. Stay at Lock Keeper’s Cottage, a recently reno-vated home on the banks of the Kennet and Avon Canal in Wiltshire, and you’ll have a grandstand view of passing, colourfully-painted nar-rowboats. Sleeping five, the cottage is adjacent to the lock in the pretty village of Seend and the towpath provides a scenic walking route with plenty of waterside pubs for

refreshment stops. www.hideaways.co.uk/holiday-cottage/lock-keeper-s-cottage-H115 Head to the Big Apple this November and do your pre-Christmas shopping for less! Package includes DIRECT flights from Dublin, 3 nights accommoda-tion in the 4* Grand Hyatt Hotel (located beside Grand Central Sta-tion) including all taxes. Prices are per person €569 based on 4 sharing or €669 based on 2 sharing www.sunway.ie Irish Ferries will host a wine fair on board its cruise ferry ‘Oscar Wilde’ sailing from Rosslare to Roscoff on September 16th. The event, free to all passengers, will see a number of French wine producers conducting tastings, giving expert advice and previewing some of the wines that can be bought ashore - where savings of up to 12.5% for Irish Ferries customers are on offer. For passengers seeking to extend this stay, Irish Ferries is offering short hotel breaks with one night in Roscoff and a second night in Cherbourg with prices from EUR199 per person. Based on 4 passengers traveling out on September 16th, returning from Cherbourg on Sep-tember 19th, this offer includes on board accommodation, two nights hotel accommodation and return car ferry travel. www.irishferries.com/winebreak

Robert Walshe is a freelance con-tributor / broadcaster and guest travel writer for River Media newspaper titles across the island of Ireland

Pet’s Corner... with Kathleen Murray: Animal Behavioural Therapist

with Kathleen Murray

n Mayfield House state room.

n Mayfield House exterior.

WHAT does it mean for pets when school opens again? For many dogs it means having to adapt to being on their own for longer periods of time. This needs to be done in a way that the dog has time to adjust be-fore the school reopens.

If it is suddenly landed on them after a summer of lots of company and extra attention then it will come as a bit of a shock. It’s a good idea to start getting the dog into a routine now the same as it will have when everyone is out.

If the dog lives in the house then it would be a good idea to start paying a bit less attention to it at certain times of the day

so that it can adjust to having quiet times by itself while you are still there. A dog that is suddenly left alone or pushed outside without warning, (espe-cially a young dog) can become destructive.

It can mess up your garden pretty good or find ways to es-cape. Escape means more fun, adventure and company but it also means risks like traffic, eat-ing something toxic, or a visit to the dog pound. Lots of dogs are stolen and never found again so please don’t let this happen to your pet. When the school routine kicks in, there’s home-work, dinner, extra activities and bed. Where does the dog

fit in? It still needs to be walked and guided so that it and the family can stay sane. A routine needs to be set up to include the dog. If it is not then the dog will make sure you will have no peace, and resentment will set in..... not the dog’s fault. Cats also have difficulties when the family routine changes. They start drifting off into neighbours gardens and sometimes away altogether. This is sad for the cat mostly because neighbours don’t want your cat, so your cat will not be getting a warm wel-come. If it goes off looking for company or food then it could be killed by a car or injured by a person, or dog. Worse again

it may become feral and pro-duce litters of wild kittens that will be a menace to wildlife, or it may die a long lonely death of pain due to medical prob-lems as there are many disease that cats can get if they are not looked after properly. Any pet that lives at home as part of the family needs to be maintained as part of the family. If a child is starting school for the first time, or going to the dentist then parernts prepare the child for the experience in advance so that the surprise or shock is minimised, or they can judge the reaction of the child to the new experience.

It’s the same for animals. If

you don’t want trouble then you need to make plans in ad-vance for how things are going to be when you are not there all day, now that the routine is going to be changed.

If a dog lives outdoors then it needs to be ignored for a spell during the day to allow it to show how it will cope with the change. If it barks a lot or digs then that’s what it will do when everyone is gone. The neighbours will not be looking forward to that. The dog needs a new routine to settle it down again. Going back to school af-fects the whole neighbourhood whether you have kids or not. 0863192247

Back to school – for pets