Deirdre McQuillanstays at Mount Vernon, in Co Clare
And some time take the time to drive out west
Into County Clare, along the Flaggy Shore
In September or October when the wind
And the light are working off each other
SEAMUS HEANEY'S lyrical, gusty poem Postscript, immortalising the wild Burren coastline where limestone flags shelve down to the sea, has drawn hundreds of visitors to this lovely, windswept part of northwest Co Clare. The poet later told an interviewer that he wrote it spontaneously in 1996 after a visit with Brian and Anne Friel to see Mount Vernon, Lady Gregory's former summer home.
Today it is a guest house where visitors can experience the hospitality and good food of Mark Helmore and Aly Raftery, along with what Heaney described as that “great exultation of air, sea and swans”.
The seaside villa, which faces Aughinish Island, was built in the late 18th century by Col William Persse, who served in the American War of Independence and became friends with George Washington.
The men shared a practical interest in horticulture, and the three great Monterey pines that tower over the garden are said to be a gift from the US president in exchange for gooseberry plants.
During the latter half of the 19th century it was bought from the Skerret family by Lady Augusta Gregory, Persse’s great-granddaughter, as a birthday present for her son Robert.
Helmore, who had run a lobster fishery nearby, inherited the house from his mother five years ago, made extensive improvements and opened it as a guest house in April 2006.
I arrived on a Saturday evening from Dublin to an exultant welcome from the couple’s two springer spaniels, Roman and Maisie, as eager for a walk along the shoreline as I was. Raftery, who in another life ran the Paul Hamlyn Foundation Arts Awards, in London, is developing an impressive knowledge of local geology and flora and was the ideal companion for the stroll, enthusing about the extraordinary number of gentians that flowered near the sea this year.
With cool eau de Nil and cream decor throughout, the house has five guest rooms, stylishly furnished with antiques, paintings and racks of interesting books. Fabrics and furnishings testify to a love of textiles, many from Indonesia, where the couple have travelled extensively.
My room opened on to a terrace and walled garden; others face the sea.
Seavite seaweed soap, shampoo and conditioner were provided in the equally spacious bathroom.
The house contains many original features from Lady Gregory’s time, including three fireplaces designed and built by Augustus John, the pre-Raphaelite painter, who was a regular visitor, an arts-and-crafts-style staircase and batiks and painted panels from Sir William Gregory’s tenure as governor of Ceylon.
“He owned all the land from Coole to Kinvara,” explained Helmore. “And gambled the equivalent of £1 million on a horse”.
The other visitors that weekend were three couples, one from the UK, another from the Netherlands and the third from San Francisco, on their first visit to Ireland.
Meals are taken together in the dining room, with sociable pre-dinner drinks beforehand, at 7.30pm, in the drawing room.
Helmore is a gifted cook with a light touch – and an experienced hand with seafood. Dinner that evening consisted of a spicy langoustine soup followed by scallops and pancetta with puy lentils and sea beet. A frothy, tangy apple tart made by Raftery was the perfect finale. There’s a small, well-chosen wine list.
Mount Vernon is an ideal base for exploring the Burren, and guided walks can be organised. It is near the Burren perfumery, various golf courses and other local attractions, such as the lively Saturday farmers market in Ballyvaughan. The extensive library in the house has books on a variety of subjects that might keep some visitors happy enough just to read in the garden, among the apple trees.
In Anne Gregory’s childhood memories of staying at Mount Vernon, the high spots were shrimping or foraging at spring tides along the shore, with buckets and spades. But its attractions go deeper, as Heaney so magically put it:
Useless to think you’ll park or capture it
More thoroughly. You are neither here nor there,
A hurry through which known and strange things pass
As big soft buffetings come at the car sideways
And catch the heart off guard and blow it open.
WhereMount Vernon, Flaggy Shore, New Quay, Co Clare, 065-7078126, www.hiddenireland.com/mountvernon.
WhatHistoric house on the Flaggy Shore.
RoomsFive: four en suite, one with private bathroom.
Best ratesBed and breakfast €110 per person sharing; single supplement €30. Residents' dinner €55.
Ideal forA quiet, romantic weekend; exploring the Burren. Not suitable for under-12s.