Candy-floss, Fairies and Frazzled Legs (Villages & Resorts in Antrim)

Member Name: Gaelic_Goddess

Product:	Villages & Resorts in Antrim
Date:	01/11/01 (161 review reads)
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My family still talk about the day in Waterfoot when my aunt took my sister and myself onto the beach for the day and brought us home 'burnt to a frazzle' - this of course was in the days before we knew about the hole in the ozone layer.

Getting sunburnt then just meant you suffered all night, couldn't bear bedclothes on your legs and weren't allowed near the sun for two or three more days.

Another favourite story my family love to relate (sad, aren't we), is the day we were going to the Lammas Fair in Ballycastle which we had never been to but had heard you could get huge candy-floss, never mind the yellow man and dulse. To our great dismay, on the day in question, we all woke up with chicken pox and no amount of crying would convince our parents to take us. We cried all day until dad was dispatched for ice cream because nothing else would shut us up.

I could go on and on with these ancient family tales of holidays spent in various parts of Co. Antrim that have made my family what we are today - Antrimophiles!

Now, some 30 plus years later (I'd love to have said ten but then that would be a lie), I am bringing my own children back to their holiday roots. Not a year has passed that at some point we have spent some wonderful and crazy times in the scenes of my childhood holidays and they love every minute and have listened endlessly to every story.

Our favourite haunts would have to be Ballycastle and Cushendall. Then again we adore the continental type beach at Waterfoot and of course it's hard top beat the walk round Cave House in Cushendun, through the fairy cave where, when I was young, I thought fairies actually lived - strangely enough my children never fell for that yarn.

It's hard to beat County Antrim; I just love the near and far of it. Maybe I should explain that one! You see, my children can only take so much breathtaking scenery and isolated picnic areas whereas I tend
to seek out both like a bloodhound (not that it's difficult to find either on the North Coast). So, just as I am winding my way down a cliff path to an idyllic bay and they are reaching scenery overload and want - no, need - shops and swing boats and dodgem cars, then they can be reached within minutes, which makes life easier all round.

One of my favourite holidays was when myself and three other friends, with all our nine children, stayed in my brothers cottage in Ballycastle. I find it hard to believe now as it only had two bedrooms. But we managed admirably and had the time of our lives. In three cars we explored every nook and cranny of the North Antrim Coast and believe me there are a million nooks and crannys.

Having experienced that particular trip, I feel myself somewhat of an expert on the Do's and Don'ts of such an adventure so my recommendations would be worth noting. For instance, do not choose the top of the tower ar Ballintoy to have your picnic. If you do, do what our children did and eat your picnic in the car. Don't do what us intrepid mothers did braving the elements rather than admitting we'd made a big mistake. I wouldn't like to see the same thing happen to any other poor parent!

Do see the Giants Causway but only walk down and take the bus back up, especially with several buggies and several small toddlers in toe. Do have a go at getting twelve people into the smallest church in Ireland but don't let the inhabitants of Port Bradon see you try!

Do be prepared for rain, not that it rains a lot, only when I am out and about without coats, umbrellas or any form of shelter close by, but do go to Waterworld in Portrush when this happens and do be prepared to be there for some time - kids adore it.

Don't miss the Glenariff Waterfall walk - it's truly magical - but don't go with two six year olds who believe they are Tarzan unless you can put them on leads.

D
o get fish and chips on the way home and eat them on any seafront you care to; Carnlough Harbour wall, Balycastle beach, Cushendun bridge, Dalriada Larne park, Portstewart Strand, Portrush promenade, to name just a few.

I feel privileged to have spent so much of my life on the Antrim Coast and will probably be telling the same old stories for years to come. I hope that my children will someday carry on the family tradition but until they are old enough to appreciate all that it has to offer I suppose I'll have to continue to listen to: "Shut up and drive Mum, we've heard it all before!"

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