Guardian and Observer Ethical Travel Award 2009

Sandele Eco-Retreat in The Gambia has won the ethical travel award in the Guardian, Observer and guardian.co.uk Travel Awards 2009. Bulungula Lodge in South Africa was the runner up and third place was Cnoc Suain, Ireland (pictured left).

Read about previous winners of the Ethical Travel Award in the Guardian, Observer and guardian.co.uk Travel Awards:

2008 (Paris Velib cycle hire scheme)

2007 (Under the Thatch self-catering cottages in Wales)

2006 (Fair Trade in Tourism South Africa scheme).

Left: Cnoc Suain, County Galway, Ireland. 

Cnoc Suain is one of those places which makes me proud to be a green travel writer. I visited it in 2008 while researching my book, Ecoescape Ireland, and was almost moved to tears by the passion and commitment of the couple who run it. I congratulate the owners on their recognition in these awards, and in true Cnoc Suain style, I raise my glass and toast them in Irish - Slainte. This is what I wrote about Cnoc Suain back then - I recently had a card from them to tell me that, sadly, the pony had passed on, but I haven't the heart to take him out of the picture quite yet. That's the effect Cnoc Suain has on people...

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A white Connemara pony greeted us upon arrival at Cnoc Suain, high up in the peat boglands overlooking Spiddal’s coastline, 22 km from Galway. Neptune, the family pony, stood casually outside the white-washed thatched cottage, in this aptly named Cnoc Suain, meaning ‘the restful hill’, as if posing for a clichéd, outdated picture postcard. But there is nothing clichéd or outdated here. Cnoc Suain, overlooking its own Cnoch a Loch, is in its own league of uniqueness, charm and beauty.  

Yet Charlie and Dearbhaill, the owners, are still searching for the right name to describe Cnoc Suain. Cultural village, hub, community all reek of cultural commercialisation to me. In contrast, this is a family homestead, which they have preserved, rebuilt and opened up to guests. They wanted visitors to stop and absorb culture from this Irish-speaking region of Ireland, rather than glimpsing it through a coach window. They have almost single-handedly rebuilt and thatched four dry-stone wall cottages, installed geothermal underfloor heating, and furnished them in a traditional, simple, and comfortable way.  

On Wednesday and Saturday nights, performers (including Dearbhaill, a professional musician), gather in the main house, in front of the biggest log fire I have ever seen. This feels like friends gathering to perform their traditional ‘noble call’, be it playing the pipes, sean-nós dancing and singing, or reciting a Yeats poem. Just to make sure you don’t feel the cold en route back down the lane to your cottage afterwards, you can stop for a hot whisky at Cnoc Suain’s own ‘shebeen’,  where, if you’re lucky, the singing goes on until the early hours. Charlie and Dearbhaill are also committed conservationists, and are in the process of creating a field laboratory, using microscopes to study elements of the local ecosystem, which includes seashore, bog and Karst limestone. They have also opened up Charlie’s extensive library to visitors. There are several options for staying at Cnoc Suain. You can sign up for a weekend residential course in anything from Irish herbal cures to watercolour painting or. if you are in the area, take part in a half-day course. You can also use the cottages as self-catering accommodation, and just lap up the landscape, live and breathe the Gaeltacht culture, and enjoy the open-house feel of Charlie and Dearbhaill’s Gaelic homestead.  One request is that children should be over fifteen because bogs can be dangerous for younger children, due to bog holes. 

Sustaining local culture is a vital part of developing a green tourism business. What makes this place unique is that it is not preserving Irish language, music, cookery and crafts in order to enshrine them. Charlie and Dearbhaill are keeping them alive, contemporising them. This is no theme park. There is nothing tacky or commercial here. It is a place of living culture, oozing with pride and determination to protect and share some of the joys of its heritage.  

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Price

Residential weekends at Cnoc Suain (cnocsuain.com 00353 91 555 703) from €295 per person sharing, and self-catering from €500 per week.

Getting there

By public transport: From Dublin's city centre, hop on a tram at the bus station to Dublin's Heuston Station, and take a

 train to Galway with Irish Rail, from €10 single. In Galway, take a taxi or bus to Spiddal and walk (five kilometres - on road through blanket bogland), or a taxi directly from Galway to Cnoc Suain.

By car: 30 mins from Galway - for a map and detailed directions see cnocsuain.com.

From the UK: Ferry from Holyhead to Dublin costs from £25 one way (irishferries.co.uk), or book a rail and ferry all inclusive ticket from UK with SailRail, from £58 return. On arrival at Dublin port there's a shuttle bus to the city centre.

An edited version of this article, by Catherine Mack, was first published in Ecoescape:Ireland(£8.99, Markham Publishing).