The magic of winter in West Cork, where music, food and drink lift the spirits
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Ireland’s southernmost tip has been reinvigorated by new vibrant venues, markets and restaurants, which has brought an energy that brightens even the darker months. When our son was very young, we spent several Easter holidays in Baltimore, a beautiful harbour village in West Cork. We took the ferry across Roaringwater Bay to Sherkin Island and Cape Clear, where Fastnet Rock Lighthouse looms in the distance, wistfully known as Ireland’s Teardrop by mournful emigrants setting off across the Atlantic in centuries past.
![[Ahmet Dede, head chef and co-ownerof Dede, is pictured with Maitre d’ and co-owner, Maria Archer, and the chef and front of house team in Baltimore.]](https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/4fc12065a7b3f44a7f48d29ab788e123327489d4/0_172_3200_1920/master/3200.jpg?width=445&dpr=1&s=none&crop=none)
We stayed at a friend’s holiday home on the hill overlooking the bay but the house was eventually sold and, sadly, Baltimore no longer played a recurring role in our lives. Recently, this maritime gem came up in conversation at a friend’s birthday celebration in Dublin. I was introduced to Stuart Musgrave, who explained that he had ditched his London life to return to Baltimore at the start of the pandemic, moving his young family into his own childhood holiday home. He described the freedom that had opened up during that time with Carbery’s 100 Isles to explore – the islands in and around Long Island Bay and Roaringwater Bay – and his own lockdown project reimagining St Matthew’s Church as a live music venue.
![[James Turrell’s Sky Garden at the Liss Ard Estate.]](https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/f846e3366f1fe0cf44190358fe7ad95c408e1edc/0_50_1200_733/master/1200.jpg?width=445&dpr=1&s=none&crop=none)
I was impressed further to hear that the shuttered swimming pool had reopened and was now run solely by a team of committed locals. The coastal community had risen to the challenge of reinvigorating the village at a difficult time for small town Ireland and I immediately began making plans to return to Baltimore to experience this new energy for myself – this time as winter sets in.
![[People sitting outside pubs and restaurants in Ireland at a coastal pub on a sunny day in Baltimore, County Cork.]](https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/683efe287e59f1ddf91f530d69e901d63fbc1829/0_0_4752_3174/master/4752.jpg?width=445&dpr=1&s=none&crop=none)
