ETHICAL TRAVELLER:I WAS LAZILY musing over my St Patrick's Day break – traditionally a long walk followed by a get-together with good friends and a few pints – when an invitation to a knitting weekend landed on my doormat. I felt as if middle age had jumped up and grabbed me by the throat. What happened? I had gone to bed as a hiking, biking, desperately-trying-to- stay-young sort of girl and woken up as my granny.
I kept reading, however, and to my surprise I found myself falling into a world of comforting quilts, rocking chairs, herbal teas and beautiful works of art.
Knitting is not really my thing, but the more I delved into the arts-and-crafts cupboard of holidays out there, the more I wanted to experience their comfort zones.
Weaving, I confess, has always fascinated me, and I have met a few weavers on my travels. Beth Moran, for example, at Ballytoughey Loom, on Clare Island, is one of Ireland’s most gifted, and from May to September she hosts weaving, spinning and natural-dyeing weekends and week-long workshops. I can’t think of a better teacher, not just because of her skills but also because she is a warm hostess to anyone wanting to experience this stunning island and its culture (clareisland. info/loom).
Competing for the top place on my wish list is a three-day break on which you learn to make a chair from scratch. Alison Ospina, founder of Green Wood Chairs in Skibbereen, creates pure works of art, or furniture, from unseasoned hazel that is coppiced in west Cork (greenwoodchairs.com).
Kinsale Pottery and Arts Centre (kinsaleceramics.com) offers a plethora of courses, including jewellery making, stained glass and, of course, pottery. Weekend packages cost from €220, including BB and one dinner. Some are for children, others are for adults and some are even for hen parties. They also work in conjunction with Ballymaloe House: an introductory pottery course, a night’s BB and a five-course dinner costs €299 (021-4652531, ballymaloe.com).
In the Burren you can take a weekend capturing the exquisite light that bounces off the karst limestone in your watercolour at Burren Painting Centre. From the end of April it will run workshop weekends that cost from €205 for two nights’ BB, one dinner and two days’ painting tuition (burrenpainting centre.com)
For something a bit more earthy, head to Co Clare for a Weekend in the Woods, on May 8th and 9th, when the Celt centre has workshops in felting, leatherwork, drystone walling, coppercraft and silversmithing. Camp there for free or stay at one of several recommended hotels or BBs (celtnet.org).
Wordsmithing is also considered by many as a fine, traditional Irish craft, and if you want to combine this with a love of travel, head to Lismore, in Co Waterford, in June for Immrama Festival of Travel Writing (programme to be announced in April; lismoreimmrama.com).
For poetry in paradise (my description, not theirs: I adore this place), Cnoc Suain, in the hills overlooking Spiddal’s coastline, has a residential poetry weekend with Kevin Siggins and Lorna Shaughnessy (28th-30th May and 13th-15th August; cnocsuain.com).
At Leitrim Sculpture Centre, Manorhamilton’s magnet for artistic brilliance, two-day courses include wood carving, contemporary printmaking and Irish stone-letter cutting, on April 17th and 18th (leitrimsculpturecentre.ie). Nearby ecohavens include Ard Nahoo (ardnahoo.com) and Tawnylust (tawnylustlodge.com).
ethicaltraveller.net, twitter.com/catherinemack