Go Ireland: Tickle your grey matter by taking a getaway break that indulges the mind as well as the senses, writes Alanna Gallagher
Change your tune
Have you always been that person at parties without a party piece? Change your tune and learn the participatory pleasures of the bodhrán. Oideas Gael in Gleanncholmcille, Co Donegal, offers beautiful scenery, an immersion in An Gaeltacht way of life and a series of cultural courses for anyone interested in their Irish heritage.
The one that will make you popular at parties is their beginner’s guide to the bodhrán. You get to study the various techniques of bodhrán playing, from how to accompany solo and group musicians in a seisiún to how to play the various beats required for hornpipes, jigs, reels and other musical styles.
After class you can practice your new-found skill in the local pubs.
WhenSeptember 10th-12th.
WhereOideas Gael, Gleanncholmcille, Co. Donegal.
Contact074-9730248, oideas-gael.com.
Price€60.
Where to stayOn-campus in the newly-built en suite double rooms in a shared house. These cost €50 per person for two nights.
Draw a marathon
The Royal Hibernian Academy has an art school that runs five-day drawing marathons for artists of an intermediate level and upwards.
This is not a course for beginners but for artists who have a rudimentary understanding of what they’re doing but who want to improve their skills. These intense workshops are limited to a group of 24 with one model for each group of 12. The course runs from Monday to Friday, 10am to 5pm,
A member of the RHA or a specially invited artist will be present each day to offer advice. You bring your own paper, preferred drawing materials and some paints should you wish to expand your life drawing techniques. Easels and boards are provided.
After a hard day honing your skills, you and your classmates can repair to the watering holes of Doheny and Nesbitts or O’Donoghue’s for a few pints and a chat.
WhenMarathon 1: September 27th-October 1st; Marathon 2: October 25th-29th; Marathon 3: November 29th-December 3rd.
WhereRoyal Hibernian Academy, Ely Place, Dublin 2.
Contact01-6612558, royalhibernianacademy.ie.
Price: €250 per person.
Where to stayThe Mont Clare Hotel (01-6073800, ocallaghanhotels.com) has a room rate only from €69 per night.
Craft a masterpiece
The culinary lure of Kinsale in Co Cork is legendary. Combined with some upskilling you have the makings of a very fine weekend. Situated one km outside Kinsale on the Bandon Road, Kinsale Pottery and Art School has several courses for budding artists who enjoy the tactility of working with their hands.
On September 25th and 26th there’s a glass fusing weekend workshop with glass artist Michael Ray of Glittering Glass (glitteringglass.com). The technique fuses glass in a kiln to make three-dimensional objects. The course costs €200 and takes place from 10am to 5pm on Saturday and Sunday. A home-cooked lunch is included in the price on both days, so too are materials and firings.
Another option is mosaic making with artist Julie Forrester, a sculptor who trained at the Slade School of Art in London. This takes place on October 23rd-24th and is a really tactile way to think of fusing the practical with the artistic.
And after Christmas there’s a bronze casting course with Danish artist Helle Helsner (h2 studioart.com), a teacher in the CIT Crawford College of Art and Design. Dates have yet to be confirmed but the workshop will teach how to make sculpture in wax cast and finish it off. It costs €240.
WhenGlass fusing, September 24th-25th.
WhereKinsale Pottery and Art School, Ballinacurra, Kinsale, Co Cork.
Contact: 021-4777758, kinsaleceramics.com
Price: €200 (€180 if you bring a friend).
Where to stayRooms cost from €100 including breakfast at the Pier House Boutique Hotel (021-4774169 pierhousekinsale.com). B&B at Woodlands on the Bandon Road (021-4772633 woodlandskinsale.com) costs €75 per room per night. Singles cost €60.
Sail away
Take to the water in lovely Leitrim where sailing classes give you a taste for the sport without breaking the bank. Classes are available every weekend from Friday afternoon, with the last session on a Sunday starting at 2.30pm. Each class costs only €15.
This is the Ryanair of the activity business, says manager Sean Wynne. “A weekend of four lessons won’t cost more than €60 per person. You can sample sailing, Canadian canoes, open-top kayaks and wind surfing or concentrate on one skill.”
All equipment is included in the price, but Wynne recommends you bring an old pair of runners that you won’t mind discarding at the end of the weekend. The centre is only 500 metres from the town where you can enjoy the hostelry delights of Conway’s Corner House and Henry’s Haven and McGourtys, all of which have music at weekend.
WhenEvery weekend throughout the year.
WhereLough Allen Education and Sailing Centre, Lough Allen, Drumshanbo, Co Leitrim.
Contact071-9640588/ 087-6312708, allen.ie.
Price€15 per sailing class which take place morning and afternoon on Saturdays. Prices include wetsuits and life jackets.
Where to stayThe Ramada Hotel in Drumshambo (071-9640100, ramadahotel leitrim.com) has two nights' B&B and one dinner for €140pps .A family room (double and single bed in room and cot available) costs €280 for two nights B&B with one evening meal. Kids' dinners are not included in this price.
Grow your own
After more than a decade of DIY the new popular movement is GIY – the grow-your-own movement that is putting down roots all over the country. It sounds great in theory, but how do armchair procrastinators get started?
A one-day course in organic food growing for the complete beginner is just the ticket. Under the tutelage of Susie Cahn it takes place in Glenealy, Co Wicklow, rather appropriately in the garden of Ireland.
The course costs €90 and covers ground preparation, compost, planting and rotation, and is designed to give amateurs the confidence boost to get started.
WhenWednesday September 15th
WhereThe Organic Centre, Carraig Dúlra at the Glenealy Landscape Centre, Glenealy, Co Wicklow.
Contact0404-69570, dulra.org.
Cost€90.
Where to stayStay at Brook Lodge Hotel and Spa (0402-36444, brooklodge.com) a 30-minute drive away. B&B costs €55pps. Dinner in the hotel's organic restaurant The Strawberry Tree, with bed and breakfast costs from €120pps per night.
Hedgerow school
Go back in time and soak up some of the traditional herb remedies used by our grandmothers with an herb lore class at Weekend in the Woods, an event run by the Centre for Environmental Living and Training in Scarriff, Co Clare. The event takes place in Bealkelly Oak Woods, a couple of miles outside the village.
Kes Clarke runs the Herb Lore – The Magic of Plantscourse which offers 21st-century dwellers a link back to nature and the tonics and tinctures used in daily life by our grandparents. The remedies are made by foraging the autumn hedgerows – learn how to make elderberry syrup, good for coughs and colds, blackberry vinegar, a good remedy for sore throats, and a simple comfrey ointment which helps heal sprains, bruises and some sports injuries.
All the workshops are held outdoors but in sheltered spaces. While this is a green event the easiest way to get here is by gas-guzzling car. Why not make a weekend of it and stay in Limerick and explore its heritage.
WhenOctober 2nd-3rd.
WhereBealkelly Oak Woods, Tuamgraney, Co Clare.
Contact061-640765, celtnet.org.
Cost€10 (group of six required).
Where to stayThe Clarion Hotel in Limerick (061-444100, clarionhotellimerick.com) has rooms from €69 per night.
Up your golf game
Improving your skills to within 100 yards of the hole is the fastest route to lowering handicaps, says former Nasa scientist Dave Pelz, widely recognised as one of golf’s foremost authorities on the short game and putting. His putting system is used and endorsed by three-time major winner Phil Mickelson and can help improve your green reading.
Killeen Castle in Dunsany is home to the first Dave Pelz Scoring Game School outside the United States. The one-day clinic targets golfers of all levels and handicaps. Australian-born and Carlow-based Rebecca Coakley, currently on the Ladies European Tour, is a student of the school.
Husband and wife teams often enrol for a day’s tuition and weekend of it. The clinic takes you through chipping, pitching and bunker play in the morning, followed by lunch in the Jack Nicklaus clubhouse. The afternoon covers the various aspects of putting. There are two- and three-day school options also.
WhenOne-, two- and three-day tutorials take place from August 21st to October 30th.
WhereKilleen Castle, Dunsany, Co Meath.
Contact01-6893000, killeencastle.com.
Price€295 for a six-hour, one-day clinic.
Where to stayDunboyne Castle Hotel and Spa (01-8013500, dunboynecastlehotel.com) has rooms from €80 per person for a double or twin room and from €125 for a single room. This price includes breakfast and complimentary access to Seoid spa.