Our Story

Our passion for northern Europe started from a picture that our cousin Silvana had taken. It was of an old bridge in the fog near Oxford. Looking at that picture we said to ourselves: “Sooner or later we have to go there”. Finally, in 1982 we rented a camper van and travelled with friends to London. We visited the whole of the South of England but we felt something was missing.
In 1984, and always in a rented camper, we went to Scotland and there we immediately fell in love with the wild beauty of the Scottish Highlands. We managed to go there a couple of times before 1989.
We had planned to go to Portugal that year by car with a tent but after thinking about it, it would’ve cost too much and would’ve been too hot for us.
One evening after speaking with my brother Paolo, he asked us: “Why don’t you go to Ireland?”. His friend Massimo was there and he came to our house to show us some slides and give us more information.
We met together and looked at the slides but we weren’t convinced. He insisted on telling us: “If you like Scotland, you will surely like Ireland too”.
A few days later we bought one of the few Italian tourist guides that were around at that time. (We still have it and still sometimes use it) “Irlanda – Guida del Turista con un Dizionario Pratico” by Polyglot A. Vallardi. We read it all in one go but most of the pictures were black and white and we still were not convinced.
However, we made the decision to give it a go. We booked the ferry – Cherbourg to Rosslare and on Monday 31st July 1989 at 14.45 we disembarked at Rosslare in the south of Ireland with our daughter Chiara. We had a car and a tent, like all of our holidays.
It was pouring rainy day. We had to find our B&B but it was not far from the port. We noticed an elderly man who was walking in the rain. We opened the window suddenly something changed. The first thing we “felt” was the smell of the peat coming from the lighted fireplace. Then we asked for information with what little English we had.
Since this first meeting we were happily impressed with the openness of Irish people… and the unforgettable smell of peat or turf.
Travelling far and wide we have always met helpful people – curious but in a friendly way.
In Northern Ireland the “Troubles” were ongoing. Armoured trucks and armed soldiers patrolled the borders at some towns. We were stopped twice but without any problems. In fact the military apologised for the disturbance and wished us a safe journey.
Last stop was Dublin. On the way back home we immediately had a desire to return. Since then we have returned about ten times until we decided that we had to realise our dream. Some favourable circumstances allowed us to make it come true and now we live in the place that is most dear to us: Maghery.