This article is from page 43 of the 2008-11-18 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 43 JPG
AS members of the O’Brien’s Bridge community prepare to unveil their new riverside heritage garden they have also revealed that the develop- ment of the loop walks in their vil- lages have attracted visitors from all over.At a time when most small vil- lages are bemoaning a lack of visi- tors, community effort has produced an attraction which sees the pubs and restaurants in the twin villages doing brisk business every weekend.
And so impressive are the three loop walks that Failte Ireland and Shannon Development are publicis-
ing them internationally for walking holidays and short breaks.
“One weekend recently 100 people sat down in a restaurant in the vil- lage and they were all members of a walking club, here to enjoy the loop walks”, said Mick Murtagh, Chair- man of the Community Council.
With the rapid decline in angling, the former mainstay of east Clare tourism, Mick said the O’Brien’s Bridge community picked itself up ‘to replace one source of tourism in- come with another. It was community effort and funding from Clare Coun- ty Council which has researched and put the work into developing these
walks and that has really paid off in terms of visitors and revenue for the area.” The walks are designed so that people can walk for one, two or three hours as they choose and key to the attraction which sees visitors com- ing from all over Ireland and from abroad is the tranquil nature of the loops, Mick believes.
“The whole length of the walk is by water and there is no traffic noise, only the birdsong and wildlife and the flow of the water. It’s really back to nature’, said Mick.
According to Failte Ireland, walk- ing is now one of the most popular outdoor pursuits.
The latest development in the walk is the Riverside garden with a herit- age section and a fascinating display of old farm machinery, mostly donat- ed by a local man, Sean Ryan.
“We’ve restored the old naviga- tional wall and the mill wall so it’s a semi-walled garden and we have a heritage plants section. This is a real community initiative which has been a huge success. It’s brought visitors from far and wide and replaced what was once the back bone of tourism here, the angling. An initiative which has come from the local community has turned a loss situation around and come up with a winner.”