Farm Tours and Oyster Picnics serving up a Taste of the Atlantic
With the reopening of hospitality, the weather up and the June holiday weekend approaching, the summer holiday feeling is finally in the air.
This year the crowds are flocking to Connemara not the Costa.It promises to be a busy season for the west of Ireland region.
The good news is there is plenty to see and do and enjoy in the array of amenities, attractions and activities which carve Connemara out as such a special place along the Wild Atlantic Way.
This summer one of the great experiences on offer from tomorrow June 4 will be Farm Tours and Oyster Picnics at DK Connemara Oysters in Letterfrack in the heart of Connemara.
You can already feel the fresh air, see the stunning scenery and taste the succulent delight of fresh Connemara oysters, a truly memorable experience and well worth the wait.
“We are so looking forward to welcoming back visitors to Connemara and our oyster farm here on the edge of the Atlantic looking out over the unrivalled sprawling landscape,” says a delighted David Keane, the man behind this enterprise.
“The first thing on the menu here for our farm tours and oyster picnics is safety. We’re serving up safety first as we greet our guests and visitors along with fun times, good times and great oysters, but all the time conscious of the health and safety of our customers and staff,” he emphasises.
“Visitors to the west are always on the lookout for interesting things to do, with friends and family and our offering is a safe and healthy experience in the great outdoors. Tourists can enjoy the experience, take away great memories, fantastic photos and of course fresh oysters, so it doesn’t get much better than that,” explains David, who is hands on as the long awaited summer season gets underway over the June bank holiday weekend.
The farm tours and oyster picnics at DK Connemara Oysters at Ballinakill Bay, Letterfrack are Origin Green certified and sustainability is central to the entire operation, whose employees are all from the locality. The farm tours and oyster picnics are all operated to the highest standards of sustainability and safety in accordance with Bord Iascaigh Mhara (BIM ) and Taste the Atlantic.
“We will be catering for families and groups in their own pods separately to ensure everyone is safe and the experience is fully Covid protocols compliant. We have accommodated vintage rallies, groups of bikers, families from accommodation in neighbouring towns, amateur chefs and culinary enthusiasts, and photographic clubs with the stunning scenery and scrumptious oysters vying for centre stage,” outlines David Keane.
The farm tours last for about one hour and fifteen minutes and cover all aspects of cultivating oysters from seed to plating up the perfect oyster for our customers and some of the country’s leading hotels, restaurants and chefs. They cover the intriguing and extensive history of oyster growing in the Connemara region dating back to 1893 as well as oyster tasting and oyster shucking demonstrations. Of course oyster lovers can purchase their favourite food, fresh oysters to take home.
Oyster Farm Tours cost €25 per person, with a family discount ticket available, and students under 18 for €15. Oysters can be purchased to takeaway, a dozen for €12.50 or you can enjoy an Oyster Picnic on the shores of Ballinakill Bay for €18 for a dozen oysters.
In the interests of safety and coordination of numbers all visits must be pre-booked at [email protected] or phone David at 0879186997.
The oyster cultivation tradition here in Connemara is centuries old and the licence for these particular oyster beds dates back to Mitchell Henry in 1893 when it was part of the Kylemore Estate.
There’s nothing David Keane looks forward to more than the oyster farm tours and oyster picnics in the summer months when tourists and visitors along the Connemara coast, taking in the delights of the Wild Atlantic Way from Galway, Clifden and Westport, drop in for a tour and a Taste of the Atlantic at DK Connemara Oysters.
There are plenty of other things to enjoy while you’re at it in Connemara this summer such as Kylemore Abbey, Roundstone, Rossaveel, learn a cúpla focail in the Gaeltacht, fishing, golf, pony-riding, camping, kayaking, surfing, sea swimming, snorkelling, rock pooling, Leenane the location for the acclaimed film adaptation of John B Keane’s ‘The Field’, Delphi Adventure Centre, Connemara Ponies, Clifden Arts Festival, Connemara National Park, Omey Island… the list just goes on, and of course did we mention a stunning Oyster Farm Tour or scrumptious Oyster Picnic?
Definitely one of the 10 best things to do in Connemara this summer.
Connemara this summer, so much better than the Costa.
