The Notebook
Field notes from Ireland.
Hotels, roads, meals, and the moments worth writing down. Added quietly, in season.
This month in Ireland · October
October in Ireland: the month the country goes dark, in the good way
Halloween is not an American import here. It is the older thing coming home, and it lands in the middle of the cheapest, emptiest, most atmospheric month of the Irish year. Fires lit, coaches gone, native oysters at their peak.
Read this month12 minute readUpdated 9 September 2026
Featured essays
Long-form guides we return to. The Northern Irish links, what to eat after a round, and the sandhills at Portmarnock.
Essay · How to shape the trip
St Patrick's Day In Ireland: The American Traveler's Reference
The definitive American guide to March 17 in Ireland. The real rhythm of the day, where to stay, which hours to disappear, and which hours to show up for.
Essay · Golf
Royal County Down, Shot By Shot: The Course That Reads You Back
The Championship course at Newcastle rewards a specific kind of decision-making. Most Americans arrive without it. Here is what we have learned.
Essay · Golf
Where To Eat Near Slieve Donard After A Round
Newcastle, County Down has a golf-course problem when it comes to dinner. Here is what we actually book around a Royal County Down trip, in what order, and why.
Essay · Golf
Portmarnock, Shot By Shot: The Most Honest Links In Ireland
The Old course on the Sutton peninsula is flat, blind-shot free, and the truest links test in Ireland. Here is what we have learned from returning to it as our round out of Dublin.
Browse by topic
The notebook by subject. Follow the thread you came in on.
Entry No. 01 · A featured note
Silver Strand at Malin Beg, the stairs nobody talks about
A small Donegal beach at the bottom of one hundred and seventy concrete steps.
Entry No. 02
The Long Way Round
Why we never stay one night anywhere in Ireland
The most common American mistake on the itinerary is also the most fixable. A note on the two-night minimum, the three-night luxury rule, and the half-day every hotel change quietly costs.
Entry No. 03
The Older Rooms
The Irish hotel test we use before booking
The most expensive mistake is not the wrong county. It is the wrong hotel. Six tests we apply before we book, and why we are not booking rooms. We are booking moods.
Entry No. 04 · At the Edge of the Atlantic
The knitters of Inis Meáin
The third in our Makers of Ireland series: the island company that turned the Aran sweater into couture, and the Connemara shop that has outfitted the west for eighty years.
Entry No. 05
Added quietly
The Older Rooms
The hand-weavers of Ardara and Kilcar
The first in our Makers of Ireland series: the families in south west Donegal still weaving tweed by hand, and how to visit them properly.
Entry No. 06
Added quietly
The Long Way Round
The potters of West Cork
The second in our Makers of Ireland series: the studios along the Sheep's Head and in Kinsale where the tableware is still thrown, glazed and fired by hand.
Chapter One
Atlantic Weather
Notes from the western edge, mostly after rain.
Entry No. 07
The Cities, Walked Early
Westport, between the river and Clew Bay
The Mayo town that works best at walking pace: the Carrowbeg, an early dinner, and the bay waiting beyond the last Georgian street.
Entry No. 08
The Pub at Dusk
Guinness in Kilkenny, by the Nore
Tynan's Bridge House at dusk, with the castle floodlights coming on across the water.
Entry No. 09
The Drawing Room Hour
Cashel Palace, the garden suite in October
A small house, a long bath, and the Rock through the window when the rain clears.
Entry No. 10
After Rain
The Irish house is the centre of everything
To understand Ireland, stop looking at the castles and start looking at the kitchen table.
Entry No. 11 · Off-Season Ireland
Glendalough on a Tuesday in February
The upper lake when the coach park is empty and the head goes quiet.
173 more entries
The rest of the Notebook is kept in one place, listed alphabetically, so nothing goes missing.
View the full indexEnd of Volume One
Volume Two arriving in season. New entries are added quietly, most weeks.
From the notebook
Editorial itineraries from Ireland.
Collected notes. A few times each season.