Places To Buy by Tourist Area: Shannon Waterway

A selection of lovely things for food lovers to do and buy in Ireland - and not just for Christmas!

The small shop is beginning to enjoy a comeback and it all started a few years ago with shoppers giving a renewed vote of confidence to the local butcher. Here are just ten iconic businesses that are at the forefront of the shop local revolution.

Who would have thought, even a few years ago, that the small shop would be enjoying such a comeback. Discerning consumers are now giving independent retailers a resounding vote of confidence and these iconic speciality food businesses are just ten of the leaders in Ireland’s shop local revolution. Each one will reward a visit with quality, value, interesting local foods – and a memorable shopping experience.

A carefully selected hamper always makes a good Christmas present, but this year it’s different - hampers and gift boxes are not only a pleasure to give and to receive, but also a lifeline for artisan producers who have found so many of their routes to market closed off in recent months...

With a rich historical and maritime legacy, East Cork has a truly unique variety of attractions to offer the visitor. It is a haven for family holidays with a huge range of activities and attractions to keep the whole family entertained for hours.

In this extensive county, the towns and villages have their own distinctive character. In West Cork, their spirit is preserved in the vigour of the landscape with the handsome coastline where the light of the famous Fastnet Rock swings across tumbling ocean and spray-tossed headland. The county is a repository of the good things of life, a treasure chest of the finest farm produce, and the very best of seafood, brought to market by skilled specialists.

The town of Killarney is where the Ring of Kerry begins and ends for many, among the lakes and mountains where they are re-establishing the enormous white-tailed sea eagle, has long been a magnet for visitors. Across the purple mountains from Killarney, the lovely little town of Kenmare in South Kerry is both a gourmet focus, and another excellent touring centre. As one of the prettiest places in Ireland, Kenmare puts the emphasis on civic pride.

That Galway Bay coastline in Co. Clare is where The Burren, the fantastical North Clare moonscape of limestone which is home to so much unexpectedly exotic flora, comes plunging spectacularly towards the sea around the attractive village of Ballyvaughan.

Connemara, the Land of the Sea, where earth, rock and ocean intermix in one of Ireland's most extraordinary landscapes, and is now as ever a place of angling renown - you're very quickly into the high ground and moorland which sweep up to the Twelve Bens and other splendid peaks, wonderful mountains which enthusiasts would claim as the most beautiful in all Ireland. Beyond, to the south, the Aran Islands are a place apart.

The wonderful northwest

Rivers often divide one county from another, but Fermanagh is divided - or linked if you prefer - throughout its length by the handsome waters of the River Erne, both river and lake. Southeast of the historic county town of Enniskillen, Upper Lough Erne is a maze of small waterways meandering their way into Fermanagh from the Erne'e source in County Cavan.

Co Cavan shares the 667 m peak of Cuilcagh with neighbouring Fermanagh. No ordinary mountain, this - it has underground streams which eventually become the headwaters of the lordly River Shannon, Ireland's longest river that passes south through many counties before exiting at the mighty estuary in Limerick. A magnet for tourism now with boating, fishing, cycling and walking-a-plenty.

Between the sheltered bays at the foot of the Glens of Antrim, the sea cliffs of the headlands soar with remarkable rock formations which, on the North Coast, provide the setting for the Carrick-a-Rede rope bridge and the Giant's Causeway.