How to have a sustainable holiday in Clare

Ten years ago I visited Copenhagen for the first time. Our hotel was carbon-neutral thanks to a giant wind turbine in the car park. Our five-year-old son viewed the city from the front of a cargo bike as we navigated the extensive cycle lanes and cycle bridges of what was the greenest capital city in the world back then. Oslo has since moved into pole position.

These days a Nordic adventure is no longer needed to experience cutting-edge environmental practices while on holiday. Instead, travel west to County Clare, which has recently broken into the top 40 on the Global Destination Sustainability Index.

The Falls Hotel in Ennistymon may not have an on-site windmill but instead it generates up to 100 per cent of its power from a turbine installed in the surging river that flows metres from its front door.

Hotel Doolin became Ireland’s first carbon-neutral hotel in 2019. While Clare can’t compete with Copenhagen’s cycle lane network, this hotel offers a 10 per cent discount to guests hardy enough to arrive by bike.

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The Armada Hotel, at the top of the beach in beautiful Spanish Point, is currently the only hotel in Ireland to have achieved B Corp certification. Considered one of the most trustworthy metrics for sustainability, it can take years of hard work to achieve this impressive environmental accreditation. Intrigued, I visited the hotel over Easter with my wife and son to meet John Burke, the indefatigable owner, and experience first-hand the strides the hotelier has made to future-proof the business.

The road from Ennis to Spanish Point passes a wind farm strewn across a hillside, I’d read that 39 per cent of Clare’s electricity comes from renewables. Climate change is increasingly impacting our weather systems and sadly March 2024 was one of the wettest on record. Luckily the sun comes out as the Armada comes into view, firing-up the 264 solar panels neatly lined along the roof.

Lunch awaits in Aileen’s Restaurant. A wraparound wall of glass perfectly frames the endless view of the Atlantic. The room, with its adjacent Ocean Bar, has to be one of the most glamorous dining spaces in Ireland. It would be a shame not to try the hotel’s own Mist + Moss gin created with juniper berries from the Burren and locally foraged botanicals.

Low-impact seafood is a well established feature of the restaurant menu. I order local hake with vegetables grown at the Armada’s own farm up the road, and cooked to perfection on newly installed induction hobs powered by the same solar panels we spotted earlier on the roof.

John Burke took over the reins of this hotel in 1999 from his father and, being no stranger to a challenge, having ascended the summit of Mount Everest, he took on the mission to improve the Armada on every level for both staff and guests.

He explains that B Corp certification is equally focused on employee wellbeing and community engagement, along with the more obvious environmental initiatives. Conferences at the hotel are encouraged to offset their travel footprint by supporting local dune restoration and native tree planting at Armada Farm. All the hotel’s art is by local artists. A wall of beautiful black and white photographs of local surfers and creatives offers guests a portal into the community that makes this corner of Ireland so special.

That night we sleep with the curtains and windows open, not wanting to miss out on the joy of our Atlantic view. I wake before dawn to a daub of yellow moon hovering just above the skyline. Several books about the area are left by our bedside and I read that Dusty Springfield’s ashes were scattered after her death beneath the Cliffs of Moher. This was Dusty’s favourite place in the world, and I can see why.

There’s no single-use plastic in our room and I fill our jug at a water station in the hallway. Coffee is made with compostable pods and I manage to convince my sleeping family to join me for an early morning swim as the beach is tantalisingly close. No chlorinated pool can compete with the thrill of a cold plunge into the ocean from a West of Ireland beach. A seaweed bath back in our room soon has us warm again and ready for the day.

After breakfast I set off inland beyond Miltown Malbay to visit Sam Gleeson at his workshop at the end of a twisting country road. Sam makes exquisite knives that are coveted by chefs, museums and food lovers all over the world. Using recycled steel from Sheffield he scores the polished metal with a decorative patina before adding a handle fashioned from beach plastic or local wood.

Sam leads me through his vast warehouse, talking me through plans to open Under One Roof, an on-site community crafts and cookery school where cutler skills will be passed on and his partner Niamh Fox will share her wizardry in the kitchen.

He points me towards Moyhill Farm, just over the hill, where organic produce will be sourced for their school.

Fergal Smith realised it was no longer sustainable to travel the world as an elite big wave surfer and instead he and his wife Sally Smith focused their attention on a 65-acre regenerative farm that is very much at the centre of this tight-knit, west Clare community. We haven’t arrived on the right day for a farm tour but instead pick up some veg from the honesty box that’s open on Thursday until Sunday.

Google Maps leads us up a back road towards Doolin with views across to the Aran Islands and Connemara. Some years back the Irish artist Dorothy Cross made an extraordinary video of a boy soprano singing under the third largest stalactite in the world at Doolin Cave. I have wanted to visit ever since.

The guided tour down into the 7.3 metre shaft, complete with hard hats, doesn’t disappoint. Discovered in 1952 by two student cavers, this 500,000-year-old beauty at the centre of a pitch black chamber is a jaw-dropping natural wonder. The visitors centre has a green roof for local wildlife, and a range of beautiful ceramics made from clay dug from the cave. Impressively, every possible environmental practice has been implemented to run the business sustainably.

The Burren Ecotourism Network supports the local business community to adopt green initiatives along with rolling out car charging infrastructure and water refill stations. Even the small clubhouse of Doolin Pitch and Putt has solar panels. My wife is persuaded to pick up a golf club for the first time but even the backdrop of the Cliffs of Moher can’t convince her to carry on beyond the first nine holes. Nagle’s campsite across the road has had a similarly sustainable makeover but as it’s still March we’re glad to be heading back to the warmth of the Armada.

We make a pit stop in Lahinch for a sandwich at Hugo’s Bakery before a sign leads us down a lane to the Irish Chandler candle shop. The welcoming owner, Lisa Barnett, whose birthday it is when we visit, pours her own natural soy candles with fragrances inspired by the region and has even created a candle for our hotel drawing on the scents of the sea.

Back at the hotel, it’s time for the energy and buzz of the Ocean Bar for dinner. Tequila and lime oysters, sizzling skillet prawns, cocktails and great chats with Alex our Spanish waiter make for a lively evening. We even put our heads around the door of Johnny Burke’s pub for some trad music and a nightcap of the hotel’s own Armada 50 Whiskey before walking outside and marvelling at the blaze of stars in the sky at the edge of the Atlantic, soundtracked by the waves on the nearby beach.

Before sleep, I pick up local filmmaker Ken O’Sullivan’s book Stories from the Deep and lose myself until the early hours in his epic tale of tracking whales and marine life in the North Atlantic. Social media on occasion has its merits and before long I’m messaging back and forth with Ken to relay my envy of his aquatic adventures.

Sadly, we need to get back to Dublin the next morning. An American family are the only other early birds joining us for the impressive breakfast buffet at 7am. We fuel up for the trip with chia seed pudding, local eggs cooked to perfection, and freshly baked bread.

Before leaving I speak over coffee to Bernard Cahill, the Armada’s wellbeing manager. Bernard explains that the hotel bought 250 copies of Ken’s book for all of the bedrooms which also can be bought at reception. Supporting the local community is paramount to the hotel, with most of the Armada’s 250 suppliers located within an 80km radius of Spanish Point.

Kermit the Frog famously crooned ‘it’s not easy being Green’. The people I have met in West Clare have shown me that’s not necessarily the case any more – and easy or not, they are doing it anyway.

Fergal McCarthy was a guest of the Armada Hotel, doubles from €180: www.armadahotel.com