The small town ‘wraps itself around’ Martina and John Sheedy’s peachy yellow hotel, on a hilltop with ‘lovely’ views of Clare ‘to catch the heart off guard and blow it open’, as the poet Seamus Heaney puts it. The Sheedy family started farming here in the 1700s, and John’s grandmother, Alice, first opened the door to paying guests in the 1930s. ‘Martina gave us such a warm greeting,’ related a Guide inspector. ‘We were shown about, then up to our room, with the promise of a pot of tea in a sunny spot in the lobby once we’d settled in.’ Bedrooms have ‘a mix of antiques and sympathetic contemporary pieces’, Gilchrist & Soames toiletries, books and magazines. Junior suites come with a large seating area, a bath and walk-in power shower. Downstairs, ‘a crackling fire’ burned in a lounge with ‘squashy sofas and a lovely display of flowers’. John Sheedy sources produce from local farmers, fishers, crofters and foragers for his dinner menus. At breakfast artisanal sausages, home-made preserves, ‘moreish sourdough’ and organic porridge provide ballast for an exploration of the Cliffs of Moher or the stark moonscape of the Burren.