One Van & Our Dog

15/08/2024

A big Happy Birthday to Tony Burke you’ve caught me up again! Let’s see what adventures today will bring. Love you ###

09/08/2024

Family Time

A lovely couple of days spent with and .

A visit to Salisbury and to the New Forest. A Brewery visit and lunch with Hayley’s parents.

21/07/2024

We are changing the name of this page to Life is for Travelling. Since we lost our beloved Bali it’s been hard writing content of our travels with out him. We will never forget him but we will now write more about our travel adventures together.

Our new website will be coming soon too where you can read about our travels past present and future as well as picking up some travel tips.

Bali always in our thoughts

30/06/2024

Impromptu trip out to make the most of the late sun. Only 40 mins from home but what a location. Lovely to catch up with Meg Daly.

05/06/2024

Another local trip at the weekend to Doonbeg Jazz Festival. Nice stopover half a mile from the village overlooking the sea. Pleasant walk into the village for fabulous food at Morriseys pub and great music. Also a visit to Vandeleur Gardens in Kilrush with a tea stop at Aylevaroo Beach.

18/05/2024

Yesterday evenings stroll to Arnside Knott. A short uphill walk but the fabulous views are worth the climb.
A drink after in the Albion pub.

16/05/2024

Lovely trip to Kirkby Lonsdale Market today to collect ingredients for tonight’s dinner and tomorrow’s breakfast.
There was even natural doggie treats for Louie.

Our visit was followed by breakfast at Elodie’s Cafe.

15/05/2024

Spending the week looking after the delightful Louie whilst our daughter is on her holidays. He loves nothing more than posing for pictures 🤣 you could be seeing a lot more of him this week as we explore Lancashire and the The Lake District.

07/05/2024

Fabulous May bank holiday weekend at the Carrigaholt Oyster Festival in County Clare (only an hour from home).
Could park up on the pier with the other campers. Great views to the castle.
All the pubs had music and free oysters.

03/05/2024

🏰When you find a castle built by your ancestors 😀

Portumna Castle and Gardens

Built by the fourth earl of Clanricarde, Portumna Castle was the de Burgo (Burke) family power base for centuries.

The walk up to the castle includes charming formal gardens, which give a sense of the original seventeenth-century setting. The gardens are particularly memorable with an abundance of beautiful of flowers and vegetables. We loved that all the flowers are labelled.

The castle enjoys fabulous views of Lough Derg and there is an on-site cafe.

A lovely impromptu visit.

13/04/2024

It’s been quite a week but we are finally on the road albeit a day and a half later than planned.

Truck failed it’s CVRT but all fixed now with new front springs and shocks, rear hub seals and brake drum.

Thanks to Emerson's Garage for a great job.

Follow to find out where we are heading.

06/11/2023

Demounted the camper for our 3 night stay at this
beautiful campsite in Fringford near Bicester. Fabulous walks with Bali dog and definitely up market shower rooms.

30/10/2023

Another great pub stopover at Meylers Millhouse Bar. Just 10 minutes from Rosslare Harbour so handy for the morning ferry.
Fabulous food and service.
Great to be next to the oldest windmill in Ireland which was looking very spooky - perfect for the time of year.

14/10/2023

Tonight’s bed!

03/09/2023

I would really like a pancake and I have been such a good boy 😇

Enjoying fresh raspberries from the garden with fluffy pancakes - recipe .

27/08/2023

A comfy night spent
So cozy lying in bed listening to the rain on the windows of our demountable leisure camper which sits neatly on our .

26/08/2023

Not a bad spot for dinner for my first camping trip. The bed is pretty comfy too!

13/08/2023

The Burkedale House page has changed so we can bring you our pawsome van life and Nordic walking adventures with Bali dog.
Meet EP the Nordic Fitness Ireland Event Pod that will soon be taking to the road to spread the word of Nordic walking around Ireland.
Follow us on instagram too

13/08/2023

Welcome to EP the Event Pod.
Follow us: to see where we head on our Nordic walking travels with Bali dog.

EP is a demountable Leisure Camper EC6HSE (bought from ) that goes on the back of our Toyota Hilux.

Looking forward to some pawsome adventures 🐾

02/02/2023

Last week on my Transformation to Tidy Together course with it was all about kitchens.

It’s so important for me to have clutter free and clean worktops with well organised cupboards so I can make delicious scones quickly and easily, ready for the guest to enjoy on arrival.

We are all set for a busy bank holiday weekend with guests arriving this evening and a changeover on Saturday.

15/01/2023

Goa did not disappoint. A fabulous place to get some winter sun and time together. We’ve cycled, hiked, used local buses and spent a night in a rice boat, eaten amazing food and enjoyed beautiful sunsets over the Arabian Sea.

It’s always good to take a break.

06/01/2023

Off on our travels again😃

02/01/2023

I don’t know about other hosts but I find I spend all of my time keeping the holiday accommodation clean and clutter free and my own house can get a bit out of hand.
This is a great time of year to get on top of all of that before things get busy again.
Check out . Jo has some fab ideas for organising everything including all that extra ‘stuff’ we need to keep for the holiday let’s.
She has a great zoom course starting in a couple of weeks. So come on let’s get organised ahead of the busy season.
Watch this space to see how I transform my own house😃

20/11/2022

Congratulations to who has won the Burkedale Trophy at the awards.
We were members of the running club in Bicester before we returned to Ireland to set up Burkedale House and Cottage.
We loved being members of the club and wanted to give something back.
The Burkedale Trophy is awarded to the person who has completed the most parkruns (another passion of ours) in the year.
Ruth is the third recipient of the trophy and a very worthy winner. She completed 43 parkruns in the last year and received the trophy on the day she completed her 100 parkrun. She has as many parkrun volunteer credits too. Well done Ruth.

15/11/2022

It’s all change at The Cottage. After 5 very happy years of holiday letting where we have met many wonderful guests from across the world we have decided to long term let through Quinn Property Management
Click below to see the details.

Burkedale Cottage, Carhue, Dysart, Ennis, Co. Clare a 1 Bed House is now for rent by Quinn Property on Daft.ie with an asking price of €800 per month

18/09/2022

A lovely evening at Everest Kitchen Nepalese Food in Ennis. Delicious food and great music.
Highly recommend

08/09/2022

What a lovely gift arriving in my letterbox today from a recent guest.

Thank you Rachel from .

So looking forward to a long soak in the bath to enjoy the beautiful aromas from this natural handcrafted soap.

06/09/2022

Kayak Travel Award in Recognition of Excellence

21/08/2022

When Airbnb guests become life long friends.
We first met and Peter in 2017 when they rented our house for 3 months through . Since then we have become firm friends. We have visited them at their home in Adelaide, they have been to dog sit for us and this week it has been great to welcome them back to Burkedale for a catch up. The fabulous seat under the tree in the garden that Peter made is always a wonderful reminder of their first stay
You never know where your Airbnb life will take you.
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30/07/2022

The Burren National Park, just 15 mins from Burkedale House, is voted best place to holiday in Ireland for 2022.

https://www.burkedalehouseandcottage.com/

In May this year The Irish Times launched a competition to find Ireland’s best holiday destination