Wild Honey Inn is ideally located on the edge of The Burren
– an area of spectacular beauty, a rocky landscape with a history and geology going back 6 million years.
The Burren
When you stay as our guest at Wild Honey Inn , you are centrally located to enjoy all that The Burren has to offer. To go for a walk on the limestone pavement, cycle along the Flaggy Shore or follow a cultural, musical or Burren Food trail – it’s all right on our doorstep.
The Burren is the smallest of Irelands six National Parks, it is around 250 square kilometres. And is roughly encircled by the quaint, picturesque villages of Ballyvaughan, Kinvara, Tubber, Corofin, Kilfenora and Lisdoonvarna.
Boíreann
The name Burren comes from the Irish word Boíreann, meaning ‘a rocky place’. This describes the Karst landscape which is underlain by limestone slabs and which would have covered the whole of Ireland some 360 million years ago. It comprises of miles upon miles of swirling, gently folding rock, hollows and pavements – which, in some places, is more than 700m thick. Karst is created where limestone is dissolved by acidic rain, this wears away the rock and forms caves. There are two well known caves to explore, both open to the public for guided tours, they are Aillwee Cave near Ballyvaughan and Doolin Cave north of Doolin village. From ash and hazel woodland to grassland, cliffs and fen, the countryside here is rich in flora and is a protected area of conservation.
Writers, Philosophers and Poets
The Burren has long been associated with renowned writers and poets. Fanore native John O’Donohue, writer and philosopher, has written widely about his beloved landscape. He died in 2008 and he now rests in eternal peace overlooking the Atlantic Ocean in Fanore.
The bard Brian Merriman, born in Ennistymon in 1747 composed a notable piece of historical literature. The Midnight Court (Cúirt an Mheán Oíche, c1780).
Other notable writers to have been inspired by the Burren landscape include, JRR Tolkien who spent time out and about in the North Clare landscape while he was an extern at the University of Galway. Poet and Nobel Laureate Seamus Heaney captured the wild spirit of the Flaggy Shore in his poem Postscript (1996).
Anne Enright, winner of the 2007 Man Booker Prize for her fourth novel The Gathering, chose Fanore as the setting of her 2015 novel The Green Road.
Millions of years, an ancient conversation has continued between the chorus of the ocean and the silence of the stone
- John O'Donohue, Anam Cara, 1996
To See and Do
Follow the history and mythology of the Burren – an area with more than 90 megalithic tombs, portal dolmens, a Celtic high cross in the village of Kilfenora and a number of ring forts, all in the area.
“The Burren is a very, very unique place. It has everything. It is a time capsule of the last 6,000 years. Professor David Bellamy.
