GROVE COTTAGE
Self catering cottage accommodation in
County Clare, Ireland.

Grove self catering cottage are situated on the outskirts of the Burren in County Clare, Ireland. This self catering holiday accommodation provides an ideal base for exploring the Burren, an unspoilt part of Ireland.

Burren means a place of rock. Here in the Burren the bare exposed limestone, which is up to 780 metres in thickness, covers an area of 250 kilometres, great slabs of rock which are almost as flat and undisturbed as they were when they were formed in the warm, shallow seas of the Carboniferous ocean 340 million years ago.

The Burren is famous for its rare and spectacular plants, which occur in abundance. Nowhere else in Ireland, England or even North West Europe can such quantities of Spring Gentian, Mountain Aven, Bloody Cranesbill, Yellow Shrubby Cinquefoil be encountered. On these limestone pavements and in the fissures between them Arctic and Alpine plants grow side by side with those from the Mediterranean. Botanists have attempted to find out why, but no one has come up with a complete answer. Soft rain, The Gulf Stream and an absence of frost, may all be factors in the spread of the plants. Spring is the best time to see the flowers when the Spring Gentians and the Mountain Avens are in full colour. But all seasons bring their own delights.

For those interested in a walking holiday there is the Burren Way, a 26-mile signposted trail between Liscannor and Ballyvaughan, County Clare.