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Here at Croan Cottages we have five recently built, traditional style self catering cottages that make a very relaxing holiday retreat. The holiday cottage accommodation is set around a central courtyard on the grounds of historic Croan House in County Kilkenny, Ireland. Today, we farm the grounds of Croan House as a smallholding with rare breeds of animals and poultry to provide as much of our own food and drink as possible. We also prepare food for our guests. Evening meals, packed lunches and dishes for a special occasion can all be prepared and delivered straight to your cottage. Have a look at our Croan Cottages Cuisine page for more details. |
A view of the self catering cottages at Croan. Click on the coloured text on our web pages to follow links to other pages. |
Many of May's piglets, born in June, have moved on to new homes, the remaining 4 will be distributed to various friends in January. We hope that May and June will have another litter in March.
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Croan's walled garden and paddocks are being restored to support our smallholding and we hope to be able to raise even more of our own food as work continues. Large Black Pigs, Cattle, Chickens, Ducks, Goats, Sheep, Geese and even Peacocks are kept in check by the ever-enthusiastic Bella the Dog and mean that we have a constant supply of bacon, eggs and poultry. Bella has now been joined by a young helper - Poppy the puppy came from the Inistigoe Puppy Rescue in May. You can keep up to date with progress on restoring the old walled garden at Croan House by revisiting the Croan Cottages website and checking out our latest news (updated December 2005). Or you can join our mailing list by clicking here.
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Our Smallholding An orchard of Apple, Plum, Pear and Cherry trees has been planted and includes many rare old varieties native to Kilkenny. This we hope will provide enough fruit to let us produce our own cider and jam. Use is also made of the wild produce from the Hedgerow and the surrounding woods. Pheasant and Rabbit are in abundance and even the humble Nettle is put to use in the making of delicious Nettle Beer.
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Pheasants often drop by from Castle Morres next door to share the Chicken and Duck' meals. |
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Things to do We provide plenty of information for guests to our cottages on arrival and also on our Croan Cottages Local Attractions web page. The Kilkenny and Waterford areas have many interesting and fun events organised throughout the year. You can review a list of some of these on our Upcoming Events page. Offering miles of local nature walks, Croan's beautiful rural setting is rich in places of interest to explore. Ireland's finest medieval city and its arts and crafts capital, Kilkenny, is minutes away, with a range of craft trails, historic gardens and cultural activities. The Dunbrody emigrant ship (New Ross) and Waterford Crystal are close by, as are the historic towns of Kells and Cashel. Dublin can be visited by train or car. Seaside villages with sailing, sea fishing charters and watersports are within easy driving distance. Excellent walking, angling, canoeing, championship golf and horse racing are available locally as are seasonal sports (hunting and game shooting). Shops, pubs and restaurants 2 miles. Waterford Airport 29 miles. Rosslare Ferryport 40 miles. We
describe some of the areas finest golf courses in our
Golf page here and for
the angler we have given some tips on where to find the
best spots here. Croan cottages are in the south of County Kilkenny and this lovely area is rich in places of interest to visit, including the Castlemorres Demesne (virtually next door), medieval Kilkenny City (15 miles) with its historic castle, and the beautiful monastic settlements of Jerpoint Abbey (3 miles) and Kells Priory (3 miles). There is a craft workshop trail to explore and Waterford Crystal is 20 miles away. There are more details about some of these sites on our Local attractions page but you'll also find much more detailed day trip itineraries and information in your cottage on your arrival. |
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