Ireland's Red Fox Inn and Kerry Bog Village
Tourist Delight in Glenbeigh, Ring of Kerry Museum, Bog Ponies
Sep 17, 2009
Visitors to Ireland are seekers of many things. Some simply are open to new sights and sounds, and are traveling to a place they have not been before. Others go for the great golf courses, fishing, horse trekking, hiking and biking, the horse races and shows, or the historical monuments and places virtually everywhere on the island.
Some adventurers seek a glimpse of their own past, to find the home place of their ancestors. Perhaps some hope to catch a leprechaun and seize his gold.
Indeed, Ireland is rich in many attractions, from recreational fun to scientific and historical study, from competitive sport to relaxation. It is no accident this country has spawned poets, musicians and artists.
Whatever has inspired the particular visitor to land in Ireland for a tour, the Red Fox Inn, and historic Kerry Bog Village Museum next to it, are likely to offer something that suits. This family-owned establishment unabashedly and proudly caters to tourists, because above all the proprietors are proud of their heritage. Sharing it is their life's work.
The Red Fox Inn
In the heart of the Irish peat bogs of Ballincleave, the Red Fox Inn hugs the road that runs between the towns of Killorglin and Glenbeigh, on the Ring of Kerry in County Kerry. It is a leisurely 40-minute drive to the Red Fox Inn from the city of Killarney.
The peat bogs stretch down and away from the road, ancient as time. Once harvested by hand, peat is now cut out with machines. Not far from the Inn is Caragh Lake and of course the beautiful Ring of Kerry continues with its breathtaking vistas.
The Inn's owners, John and Olive Mulvihill and their family, now two grown sons, have worked long and hard building the Inn into its present establishment. It is both a fine pub and restaurant, well known to local patrons and tourists alike.
Tourists arrive on their own and by bus tours. All who enter the door are met with the fragrance of burning peat and a cup of hot Irish coffee (the Inn's own recipe, which it will share). The walls are filled with photographs from many eras, the traditional bar shining of polished wood.
The atmosphere glows with a feeling of warmth and welcoming cheer. The lilt and laughter of voices add their own melodies to the Irish music often playing. The seekers of the Ireland of their imagination have found it here.
The Kerry Bog Village Museum
Next door to the Red Fox Inn are two of John Mulvihill's crowning achievements: the historic Kerry Bog Village Museum and his Kerry Bog Ponies.
The Village recreates a living history of 18th century Irish boglands. The stone one-room cottages have the thatched roofs that are done in the old way. The houses show the spare furnishings of their day, divided into a sleeping corner and daily life by the hearth; they are heated by open fireplaces.
Together the cottages comprise a working village complete with such attractionso as a blacksmith shop, mounds of peat, and farm animals.Many authentic pieces are displayed throughout the village; others are placed as representative examples of village life.
The Village continues as a work in progress for the Mulvihill family. There is always something that can be added, and, like all buildings, the cottages require ongoing maintenance.
One TripAdvisor Member who visited the Village wrote the following about it: “The [Kerry Bog] village is one of my favorites in the whole of Ireland. The place is serene and beautiful, with bog ponies to see, Irish music always being played, a great gift shop, and the best Irish coffee in the world at the Red Fox Inn next door. Best of all is the wonderful smell of peat burning in the fireplaces.”
Irish Kerry Bog Pony – Ireland's Heritage Pony
In the pastures next to the Village one can see some of John Mulvihill's treasured Kerry Bog Ponies. John is responsible for bringing the Kerry Bog Pony back from the brink of extinction.
These hardy little draft ponies were the means of bringing the peat out of the bogs for the hardworking people of the 18th century bog villages. The ponies performed all sorts of other tasks as well. For example, the ocean shore is not far, and the ponies were useful to haul in seaweed.
Famine, war and mechanization marginalized the ponies until they were nearly gone. When John Mulvihill began his odyssey to preserve Kerry's bogland history, he remembered the pony that was a central player in a family's livelihood. Indeed, the Village could not be complete without the ponies.
He found the remnants of the ponies running on the bogs, a few literally in his own backyard. A horseman himself, it was a natural fit for John to take an interest in whether the pony of old could be brought back.
Thanks to his tireless efforts and those of like-minded preservationists, the Kerry Bog Pony was DNA typed and recouped as a distinct mountain and moorland breed. Today, the breed has begun to thrive again, and has been proclaimed by the Irish government as Ireland's Heritage Pony.
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