River Cottage Guesthouse

Ardfarna
Bundoran
Co. Donegal

Tel: 00353 71 9841055
Email: shane@drowessalmonfishery.com

Website: www.drowessalmonfishery.com

The River Drowes is famous for being the spot where the first recorded Irish Salmon is caught on rod year after year. No wonder then that the River Cottage Guesthouse, which is within 'casting distance' of some of the best pools of salmon and wild brown trout, is a favourite with fishing fans. The house is a beautifully refurbished 400 year old mill, situated right on the river Where most accommodation websites promote facilities such as internet access, hairdryers and hot tubs, River Cottage favours their USP of fine freezing rooms, fishing library, and fly tying facilities. It offers fishing package weekends including hire of boats and engines, and with the waters of the Drowes as one of their most precious assets, it is not surprising that they have created a reedbed filtration system.

But this stunning restoration on the River Drowes, which stretches from  Lough Melvin at Lareen to the Sea Pools near Tullaghan just outside Bundoran, is in no way just  about wellies and worms.  It has four-star bedrooms, hearty breakfasts and dinners, and there is plenty to do here for the non-angler. Such as walking up the nearby Vartry Mountain which rises above the shores of Lough Melvin, taking the Cottage's bikes out on the Kingfisher Cycle Trail, or visiting the Leitrim Sculpture Centre in nearby Manorhamilton. But with the Drowes rushing past your bedroom window, as it did 400 years ago when it served the mill, and the coast of Donegal just a few miles downstream,  water and fishing are very much at the centre of things at River Cottage. The salmon don't pick a perfect spot like this every year for nothing.

Written by: Catherine Mack