DONEGAL

Steps lead to the View Garden and Swiss Walk and then on to the Italian Garden, all clipped griselina hedge, tall shading trees and statuary. 15 miles north west of Letterkenny, eight miles/13km from Churchill the gardens are open daily Easter till the last Monday in October. Since the gardens can only be reached by shuttle bus from the Visitor Centre from the National Park entrance, they are well preserved. There are also restaurant facilities and the Derrylahan Nature Trail and castle tours. Note – beware the midges in summer evenings which can be annoying – bring a repellent.

Beautiful Gartan Lough, nearby, was the birthplace of St. Columeille and at Lacnacoo, on the lake's west shore, a flagstone marks — it is said – the precise spot. At the south end of Doon Rock, Carriag and Duin, another stone marks the crowning place of the O'Donnells. Taditionally, if crowned the O'Donnell would later be buried at Columcille's Abbey, at Churchtown, where two stone crosses mark the site of the saint's first religious house.

Just outside the village of Churchill, the painter Derek Hill who ‘discovered’ and encouraged Tory’s Island’s school of primitive painters (principally James Dixon) bought the old Rectory overlooking Lough Gartan and also created a splendid garden, St Columb’s. Birch, apple trees and trellised roses decorate the hillside, creepers glow on the house’s walls. The touches of James Russell, borrowed from Glenveagh, are obvious. Hill also followed McIlhenny’s example and donated his garden, St Columb’s, to the nation. His Regency house, Glebe House, and its adjoining Gallery, is also open to the public. Other Donegal gardens of note include that at Ard na Mona on the shores of Lough Eske — a veritable rhododendron forest — where the owners will send the visitor out on what they call the ‘Rhododendron Road’. Indeed any tour of Donegal might be called the Rhododendron Road.

North of Letterkenny (see opposite page) is Raphoe with pretty Georgian houses as has handsome Ramelton by the banks of the River Lennon on the Fanad peninsula.

The Old Meeting House, in this delightfully atmospheric riparian village, redolent with old mills and Georgian houses, the whole now designated an architectural heritage site, is one of the oldest Presbyterian buildings in Ireland. Open to the public it is now dedicated to the Reverend Francis Makemie, founder of the Presbyterian Church in the United States.

A few miles north east is Rathmullan with its anti-Napoleonic fort and the Flight of the Earls Heritage Centre. The town sits on the edge of one of Donegal’s specialities — a mile stretch of Blue Flag beach looks over to Inch Island across the serene waters of the Lough Swilly. The village, like so many spots in Donegal, has seen property prices soar as 'blow-ins' buy summer and second homes. Rathmullan in particular is unique with two quality hotels side by side, bordered by the strand and sheltered waters of Lough Swilly. Further north on the Fanad Peninsula is the Knockalla Coast Drive with stunning high-rise views over the mouth of the Swilly, across to Portsalon harbour with its unique spirit grocer's known as Rita's.

At Downings, further north, on the Rosguill Peninsula visitors stop either for the beautiful beach, the
golf or to call into McNutt’s for indiginous tweeds.

Founded in 1906 and one of the first weaving companies in the county, McNutt's still offers one of the finest selection of tweeds and linens with their now world famous pedigree for quality — having featured in the collections of such designers as Armani. Overlooking majestic Sheephaven Bay on the start of the famous Atlantic Drive and complete with excellent coffee shop.

Off Atlantic Drive, on the 4 mile cul-de-sac road past the Youth Hostel, is the ominously titled Murder Hole. Accessed only on foot, parking at the end of the road, literally, and crossing two fields to the north, the energetic visitor will discover a 'lost bay' of golden sands, thundering seas, towering cliffs and large sea caves, all designed to make your heart beat faster.