We had a great time in Sillahertane. Deirdre and I really liked the house, it was substantial and luxurious without being over-refined or overstated. It was warm, spacious and with an air of generosity - no sense of nitpicking or mean spiritedness that we found in other places.

We did not realize how special a place it was until we got there and felt what it was like. You have a great website but I don't think any pictures or words can capture how wonderfully unique an experience staying there is.

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We truly had a wonderful time at Sillahertane Estate. You did an excellent job with the renovations and the house is beautiful. The stove/water heater took a little getting used to, but it worked pretty well. We cooked at home about half of the time and spent a lot of time in the kitchen.

We rented a van, and my brother in law and I, using a map that perhaps wasn't quite accurate, thought we could turn left coming out of Sillahertane and end up on the road to Bantry. We found soon realized our error. I managed to get the van into a deep and muddy ditch, with the van leaning against a stone wall. Fortunately, though, it was right in front of your neighbours’ farm and he happened to be right there when it happened. After at least an hour or more trying to get us, he called another neighbour to bring his tractor, which did the trick. They both seemed to enjoy helping the Americans. We were then invited in for coffee, and we must have spent hours there listening to his stories.

James treated us very well. He filled us in on both ancient and recent history of the estate. One day he took two of us for a ride through the estate. Not only did we enjoy spectacular scenery, but James gave us a demonstration of his dog Prince's sheep herding abilities (truly amazing) and he sheared a sheep for us, even letting me give it a try. I was afraid of cutting the sheep. We finished with coffee at the neighbours house and considerable talk about everything. It was certainly my best day in my three trips to Ireland. James was a big hit with all of us.

We tried the Top of Coom. A very big walk! The local characters were there, who were wonderful. We also ate at the Mill Inn, and it was excellent.

While we spent a great deal of time touring the countryside, including Kinsale (beautiful), the Ring of Kerry (over rated), Dingle (enjoyed by the history buffs), and a trip to Skibereen and Baltimore to find my business partner's grandfather's pub (it is still there but was closed when we were there), we also spent a great deal of time at the estate. It is a pretty good ride into Kenmare, but we all agreed that the beauty of the estate, including sheep grazing in the yard, was worth the drive. It is a very scenic and relaxing place to stay.

We enjoyed ourselves greatly. Our best to you both.
Jeff Drews – USA (2005)

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Hi, I just wanted to let you know that we had the most wonderful stay at Sillahertane this past week and truly felt at home there. The house is superb, really comfortable and did not feel anything like a holiday rental, rather like staying at a friend’s home. James is brilliant, so helpful and knowledgeable and a real fun Irishman!
As for Kin (the cat), he is a truly remarkable creature, being a real cat lover myself (I have several) I became very attached and made sure he was well fed!!
Our house hunting went well and we have made an offer on a house, but even if we do get to live in Ireland over the next few months, will want to return to Sillahertane again and again.
Thank you so much for making the house available to us.
Lorraine and Alan Foulger – UK (2005)

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I´d like to give you some details about our wonderful relaxed last 10 days at your house in Sillahertane. Frank and I flew Friday morning to Shannon. We rented a car and for our first sightseeing & took the ferry over Shannon river. We had a nice trip to Sillahertane and met James there in the evening.

And we went hiking in the Macgillycuddy mountains, to the two lakes underneath the Calauntoohil. The weather was always good by the way, James said we always bring the sun with us. It did not rain a single day ! The nights were cold, the days sunny and windy.

We did a lot of walking on your estate, one day over the last fence to the valley, where the Roughty River comes through. We had a picnic at the river, saw thousands of sheep and lambs.

On your place we saw deer nearly every day, the one in front of our car was the only red, one pair of sika was always in the evening near the ruin, standing still and watching us before they ran away.

Our times changed on Thursday, when we picked up friends from Kerry airport. They loved your house and the dogs from the beginning, and were crazy about the quadbike. James gave him some instructions and he was happy with it. James provided us with some local meat, so Frank made a very good Irish stew with mutton that evening. The other morning James called, and asked if we would like to see one of his cows, which was going to calf. So we went to Kilgarvan, where he picked us up, but we came some minutes too late, the calf was already born, lying in the meadow, being licked by his mother. So we met James´parents and they invited us for tea. We had a very good time, sitting in the kitchen, talking about farming, fishing, hunting and Irish stew. They are such nice people.

In the afternoon we were complete, when we picked up more friends, who abstolutely loved your place. They were very excited to see the old ruin….

We had a very good time all together, beer and whisky consumption was rising.
Do you know how many sheep you have on Sillahertane, and how many lambs ? They are so cute, every evening and in the morning for wake-up-service they came close to your house. That day we had a luxury of a huge local wild salmon, which was so good and we ate from it two days!!! The other day we had a piece of deer and enjoyed it so much.

Saturday evening we went to Top of the Coom to play darts. We had fun but it was so cold up there and they did not want to light a fire, so we left a little early.
We are all home again now, but we remember a very good time at your comfortable house, it is a good feeling to know about this peaceful quiet place.
So, thank you so much that we could be there, greetings to you both.
Christiane and Frank Hoelzle - Germany (2005)

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Hi, just to let you know, we all enjoyed our stay and the house and surroundings were just perfect. The dog Pepper particularly enjoyed her swims in the reservoir.

James was very helpful and went out of his way to assist in whatever he could, you have a good man there.

Very best wishes and regards, Andrew Michaels – UK (2005)

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