A huge congratulations to Aislynn & David on their recent engagement here!!💍 The first engagement at Lough Mardal Lodge. We're not sure who was more emotional, us or them. Suffice to say there were tears all round. Wishing them the very happiest of futures together. We hope to see them again, next time as Mr. & Mrs. ❤️ #RomanticGetaway #Glamping #RomanticDestination #Travel #WestofIreland #Donegal

We've had some very cool and hardy glampers come stay in our yurt since February. So hardy our very first guests arrived in the snow. They assured us their wood-burning stove kept them warm and toasty as they looked out their windows onto a lakeside Narnia. Other guests experienced howling storms, nails were bitten before they relaxed and felt comfortably at rest that their yurt wasn't going to blow away, with them inside it. It actually made the whole experience for them th

As we work away finishing the Lodge communal building for this Summer the first of our yurts is ready and available to book now at a special reduced rate on Airbnb. We've even just had our first guests and received our first review, gulp! The yurt is very bright and spacious and comfortably furnished with a wood-burning stove to keep you cosy and warm. It has lake and forest views and a sun which (when it shines) very obligingly sets directly outside your window. :-) As the L

What a beautifully still lake this morning, the forest spotlit by the early morning sun. #morningslikethese #LakesideGlamping #Donegal #Ireland

We are very lucky to have wild bilberries growing along the shoreline and they are now ripe for picking! The girls actually managed to save some for later on our first foraging expedition, which was a first! I should have got a photo of their black lips by the end of our mission. Next time... :-) In Ireland, the fruit is known as fraughan, from the Irish fraochán, and is traditionally gathered on the last Sunday in July, known as "Fraughan Sunday". They are known has hucklebe

Well, we're getting there. We've been building throughout a pretty harsh Winter and although at time of writing it is yet another cold morning, the sun is shining and the birds are in full song...one is cautiously optimistic that the sub-zero temperatures are behind us. Despite the erratic weather Spring has arrived for sure as we are tripping over frogs and the lakeshore ditches are full of frog spawn. Snowdrops are up, we have spotted Whooper swans, Canada geese and Mallard

A south westerly wind today according to the weather vane. And not a snow blizzard in sight! #Glamping #LuxuryCamping #Yurt #Donegal #Ireland

We were half expecting to escape the #beastfromtheeast up in our corner of the North West...and then in the blink of an eye this happened. #partofthegang #BeautifulDestinations #BeautifulLandscape #Familyfriendly #WildAtlanticWay #Donegal #Glamping #Ireland

Big news, the sun came out today. So it was the first decent walk for days that didn't feel like an endurance test. Although usually always drawn to the lakeshore today we went up the hill. The view on a good day with Donegal Bay in the distance always catches your breath. (The sound of angle-grinders on the building site ruining the peace but playful toddlers and meditative zen dog compensate.) More of these days please. #Glamping #Travel #EcoLodge #BeautifulDestinations #

An apocalptic sunset on the horizon the other evening. (Thankfully we are all still here.) The light and long shadows across the landscape can stop you in your tracks up here. As evidenced by Archie the dog and the cockerel! (Although they are looking the wrong way hmmm!) Dramatic Autumn sunsets (and sunrises) just rock. #sunset #landscape #beautifulplace #WildAtlanticWay #Ireland #Donegal

There was much excitement this morning at breakfast - the cuckoo is back! We have been looking forward to its arrival but weren't expecting it quite so soon. Last year Maisie used to wake us all up at 6am cuckoo-ing, the actual cuckoo singing in the background outside. Maisie's cuckoos are an oddly amusing sound to wake up to. She has been practising them again recently as a result of all the cuckoo chat, warming-up for her morning serenades with her old pal. We can't wait.

3.30am. It sounds like a Boeing 747 is taking off outside the yurt. I've never heard wind like this before. The noise is literally deafening. Gusts build and howl around us and I lie, frozen, waiting for something to give - the yurt to suddenly uproot or a tree to appear through the roof. Then it all goes eerily quiet momentarily... (and breathe)...before the next gust comes bellowing. I'm on my own with the girls tonight. Therefore 'in charge' and feeling ill equipped for th