Donegal has been described as "Ireland's best kept secret", and this part of the county is arguably the very best part of that secret.

The valley I live in begins high on moorland and swoops down to meet the open ocean at a beach lapped by some of the clearest unpolluted seawater you'll find in Europe, only about a mile (1½ kilometres) from my house. Seals sometimes play hide and seek just outside the line of breakers, and Winter storms crashing against the cliffs produce spectacular displays of spray as they scour and sculpt the underwater profile of the little bay to produce subtle changes in what is exposed at low tide in each successive year.

"The most remote valley in Ireland" (as it has been called by one guide book) nonetheless has a lively pub scene, especially in Summer when people come from all over the world to study at a cultural centre which offers courses in a wide range of topics from archaeology to weaving, with particular emphasis on teaching the Irish language from beginner level to advanced (so good at what it does that the President of Ireland has taken courses there).

The centre publishes an excellent pictorial guide to the history, heritage, monuments and natural features of the area, of which an Internet version can be accessed by clicking here.

This farm consists of a dozen enclosed acres and a 12% share of the mountain which rises directly behind my house. If you explore in that direction you can travel a considerable distance before you see another sign of human habitation, and even that is just a little cluster of cottages beside a small harbour which were abandoned years ago; beyond lie many more miles of deserted upland moor in virtually its natural state, now part of a vast Special Area for Conservation which begins at the boundary of my enclosed fields.

In the opposite direction it's a walk of only about 30 minutes from my front door to the bus stop (daily services direct to and from Dublin and other parts of Ireland, North and South) and the health centre, shops, pubs, post office and other facilities of a community which while rooted deeply in the traditions of a harsh past is now looking firmly forward to a less difficult future as visitors discover that we still have here things of a value beyond price which have been buried forever under "progress" and "development" elsewhere.

My house was built circa 1850 and the enclosed land is spread around it between a height of about 125ft. (40 metres) right down to sea level on the South-facing side of the valley. They came into the ownership of my family in 1970 but for many years lay empty, abandoned, and very close to dereliction.

Since my relatively recent return I've been bringing the house "back from the brink" and steadily improving the land by cultivation, drainage and careful consideration of ways in which it can be enhanced and "fortified against the future" so that it will continue to be a place in which people, wildlife, domestic animals and plants can thrive harmoniously together.

I cultivate intensively only as much land as I need to secure a reasonable supply of fresh vegetables; the rest is used for grazing (by goats and eventually, I hope, by at least one horse) and to secure a good enough supply of hay to see us through what can be quite severe and long-lasting Winters.

Much of the work which people who come WWOOFing can get involved in is concerned with what I've just outlined in the previous three paragraphs, but there are other aspects of the place which might be of interest too: there's building work (I must strengthen the house roof soon because it would be foolish to ignore what is predicted about the effects of global warning in terms of stronger winds, I'm re-building a fallen-down stable using the original stones, and I've already cleared and prepared a site to build a much-needed barn, also of natural stone, which will give some shelter to the house as well as providing accommodation for animals and space to keep their Winter's supply of fodder) and I have a long-standing interest in alternative technology and the use of sustainable forms of energy  -  I've already installed a wind-driven generator system which with some further upgrading and modifications on the electronics side should have the capacity to provide enough electricity for essentials, and future projects may include a digester to extract cooking gas from raw manure while it's composting down for use as fertiliser and perhaps experimentation with hydrogen fuel cells to try to replace the peat-burning range and stove with which I currently heat the house, cook, and get my supply of hot water.

If you want to venture into "The Colour Section" (an unstructured patchwork of bits and pieces which is both a product and an indulgence of my capricious whim  -  I warn you now, it may leave you grasping for your browser's back-button!) click here, but if you want to find out how to arrange to come WWOOFing with me, click below:

how?