#COUNTY CORK IRELAND SCENERY PROFESSIONAL#

#COUNTY CORK IRELAND SCENERY PROFESSIONAL#

Our friend, and professional wildlife photographer, Sheena Jolley lives in this impossibly romantic old mill just outside of Schull. It has been lovingly and magnificently restored by Jeremy Irons and if you’re curious to see inside, there are some interior images here. We were lucky to capture it at dusk on a hazy evening in March. Kilcoe Castle seems to feature each year as it’s a firm favourite with us in West Cork. The image is of a window in Bantry Catholic church, probably the work of William Dowling. Perhaps it is her association with the bees that resonates with people now that bees everywhere are in danger.

Although a familiar saint her in West Cork, she is not universally known elsewhere. We were surprised by the instant appeal of our stained glass St Gobnait. Perhaps one day a new team will take it on: meantime it sits forlornly behind barbed wire, a reminder of optimistic times.

It’s a dramatic sight and an extraordinary story of the dream to build Ireland’s first six star hotel – a dream that came crashing down with the collapse of the Celtic Tiger economy in 2008. The photo this year that was most viewed and exclaimed over was our shot of Dunboy Castle (above), just outside Castletownbere. Here’s our final selection for this year – we decided to stick to West Cork, and we’re starting off with Bantry, with that wonderful statue of Brendan the Navigator blessing us and inviting us into the town. Every year we take a look at the Facebook photographs that you’ve liked or viewed or shared the most, and then edit them down to manageable proportions.

County cork ireland scenery