A Culinary Adventure in Ireland - North Clare Food Trail

Join us for a week of cooking, farm and food producer visits, nutritional workshops, food themed, historical and cultural nature walks in the Burren and more. You will find a warm Irish welcome, wholesome home cooking and a chance to taste the rich diverse flavours of the Clare countryside. This is a unique opportunity to explore the farms and backroads that tourists don't see.

The holiday includes: Vegetarian cooking classes where you will cook lunch for the group each day using our own organic, garden supplies and locally sourced produce. Instruction will be by Mary Sheehan an American who has returned to her Irish family and roots. Mary has been a professional cook for 30 years, specializing in healthy, organic cuisine and developing recipes for varied diets and lifestyles. Prior to becoming the cook at Boghill her culinary journey has included Mary's Cafe in Nyack, NY, Chef at the Dalton School in NYC, culinary school instruction and a restaurant consultant. See www.vegetarianireland.com to sample some of her recipes.
Afternoon tours include the Burren Smokehouse and the Burren Brewery, visits to local farmers producing goats cheese, herb teas, apples, vegetables and organic free range meat, a herb walk through a Burren meadow where you think you're in an ancient fairyland. You will be also be guided through the ancient landscape of the Burren and shown how our ancestors cooked in Fulachta fiadh.

This trip offers you a chance to experience Clare life through its food, culture, botany, traditions, music, dance and its people. The Boghill Centre is a sustainable complex with a strong Environmental policy set in 50 acres of land at the foot of the Burren. The estate includes organic vegetable and fruit gardens, a nature trail, a stone circle, a wildlife pond, a reed labyrinth, a chicken coop and pig pen, an orchard, and several recently planted native woodland areas. Our mantra is reduce, reuse, recycle and our ethos is based on creating an environmentally sustainable business having a minimal impact on the earth.

The Boghill kitchen is renowned for its delicious nurturing vegetarian food sourced primarily from the adjoining organic garden and orchard. Our gourmet menu will nourish your soul as well as your body and we are happy to cater for special diets. The Burren with its unusual geological features, its well preserved archaeology, its unique flora and fauna and its local culture, it is an ideal area to explore intimately in a small tour group. The nature of the area – unspoilt countryside, unusual natural features, numerous heritage sites, small roads, working farms – make it a haven for visitors who want to get off the beaten track and discover real Ireland.

The Boghill Centre is a key member of the Burren Ecotourism Network and we aim to encourage visitors to the area and preserve the Burren as an unspoilt nature reserve. At Boghill we offer a holiday with a difference – a refreshing change from a Hotel based trip. We replace the impersonal grandeur with a friendly home-from-home, the mass catering with the nutritious, home cooked organic food and we offer one-to-one attention and a community spirit. Our aim is to give you a full flavour of life in the picturesque County Clare and integrate you with the people, the traditions and the customs - A personalised holiday treat.

Stay in one of our single or twin ensuite rooms or share a family room in our hostel. You will have full access to the Boghill estate and can enjoy our Interaction with Nature Tour. As well as the tour programme there will be the opportunity to indulge yourself in a choice of individual therapies at affordable guest rates. Our therapy range includes Aromatherapy massage, Indian Head massage, Reflexology, Reiki and Spiritual healing.

“Boghill is a magical place where you can lose yourself in wild nature and reconnect with your soul. I have been coming here for 7 years and each visit is different. The people are friendly, the food is divine and I love the endless opportunities to discover something new about yourself.” Karen Revel

Our summer budget retreats run from Sunday eve to Friday morning from only €830– Shared room (€890 - Private room)