Recipes, cooking classes, design, and good, clean fun
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Grá Bia roughly translates to 'love food'
Our Core Mission:
Providing a lasting impression of the beauty of Irish food and cuisine, while maintaining culture & tradition, meeting the farmers, cheesemakers and fishermen, brought to light in a modern way, without sacrificing the historical past. We want to change your mind, and your perception of Irish food, and help you experience the incredible resources this small island provides.
Love food, yes we do! Join us as we let our senses come alive on this culinary tour of Ireland. You will cook, smell, see and experience many of the glorious resources of the Emerald Isle.
By concentrating on small geographical areas at a time, this experience will change your perception of the food of Ireland. You’ll experience firsthand the wonders it offers. Like the deliciousness of mussels plucked from the sea and simmered with seaweed and fresh Irish butter (that we’ve made!). Learn to make Irish Soda Bread, Brown Bread made with treacle in an Irish farmhouse kitchen. Taste as nature intended.
A very small group (max 8 guests) will make this a wonderfully intimate week, making new friends. We promise to have a hike, sea walk or bog walk everyday to walk off all the goodness we consume!
Meet Anne and Shelagh
You will travel the lush green fields of Galway with Anne Reddington and Shelagh Geraghty Mullen. Anne was born and raised just north of Dunmore, and lives in a home she built on her families farm property. Anne and her husband Larry make goats cheese (Galway Cheese), and they sell to some of the finest restaurants in Ireland.
Anne has a background in finance, and owns her own accountancy firm. Her first love in the kitchen is baking, and oh what a baker she is! Soda Bread and Treacle Bread are her specialities, she also loves to make ice cream (with good Irish milk and cream!), and wedding cakes. Anne also dabbles a bit in chocolate making. Pure talent!
Anne and Shelagh share a few things in common, cooking amazing food and a strong, deep love of Ireland. Both women studied at The Dublin Cookery School (at different times), and connected by happenstance and became fast friends (over an 11 a.m. Hot Whiskey!). We’ll save that story for later. 🙂
Some of the things you'll experience on our tour
Two if by land
The tour will spend two days in Anne’s farmhouse kitchen preparing, cooking, and learning about the ingredients we will have shopped for from artisan farmers, producers, and makers in the Galway area. A wonderful field to fork dinner will wrap up the land portion of the trip.
Two if by Sea
You can’t leave Ireland without a private whiskey distillery tour. The next two full days will be at the sea. We’ll simmer up a pot of mussels we collect from a local musselry near Killary Fjord. Seaside hikes and an incredible lunch by the water. We will travel around County Galway only, exploring and cooking together while basking in the natural beauty of this small pocket of the island.
This itinerary is subject to change. due to availability.
always an adventure with Gra Bía
You won’t be over-scheduled, giving you time to truly absorb where you are and be present. You won’t be seeing its glories through the window of a tour bus either, but walking its bogs, coastal shorelines, and hiking its spectacular hills.
Top left to right: Shelagh cutting turf; two Guinness (it’s always best with two, ’tis); Lobster Bisque from Cronin’s Sheebeen in Westport, County Galway. And yes, you always get spuds with your meals.
accommodation
where will i stay & eat?
Sweet dreams will accompany you with lovely family-run guest house accommodations.
We will pull up a chair in some incredible local restaurants for unforgettable meals, where young chefs embrace and celebrate new modern Irish food heritage.
We will welcome each day with a hearty Irish Breakfast prepared using the best local Irish produce. We will have plenty energizing fuel for our daily adventures.
Please note, pricing is based on double occupancy.
What will i get out of this tour?
The concept of this tour is for you to dip your toe into the food of Ireland. The flexibility of the trip offers you time on either end to rent a car and explore more, hopefully enjoying more food excursions and restaurants. You always want to leave a glorious place, wanting to go back.
Hi Anne! >>
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itinerary
(SUBJECT TO AND LIKELY TO CHANGE, just like the irish weather)
1
Arrival and welcome dinner
Meet at Armorica Hotel in Oranmore by Sunday afternoon. We will get acqainted and have a lovely welcome dinner with wine pairing. Prepared by the hotel proprietors Natasha and her husband Nicolas. Ending with a whiskey tasting.
2
Cookery classes in Anne’s farmhouse kitchen
After a lovely breakfast, our tour will begin at Kylemore Dairy Farm where we will make butter from the farms lovely cows and have a tasting of cheeses and other products available from the farm. We will then head to Anne’s kitchen for soda and treacle bread making. The evening will be free for you to enjoy the thatch-roofed pub across the street from the hotel, or a hike at Rinville Park or just relax.
3
Farm to fork dinner day!
Using some of ingredients gathered on Monday, we will spend the day cooking with Anne and Shelagh. Bog-walk breaks will be had, and a lovely tour of Anne and Larry’s Goat Cheese making business (Galway Cheese) and wine tasting (aka Cheese & Chats) before our long-table gathering and meal we’ve all prepared together.
4
Pack your bags, we are heading to Clifden
Fueled by our last breakfast at Amorica, and ready for a cocktail masterclass at the award-winning, 170 year old, family run Micil Distillery in Connemara, Galway. You’ll learn about poitín, which is the precurser to whiskey, and Micil is one of the only places you can try/buy it in Ireland.
A treat is ahead with lunch at Ruiben in Galway. Then we head on a sea-side hike after arriving at the hotel.
Dinner on Wednesday will be at our home for the next few nights, Rosleague Manor.
5
Hop into the wellies, we are off to gather Seaweed and mussels!
Just steps from the hotel we will meet our host Mary who will share all the intricacies of foraging for seaweed, we will then have a cooking demonstration and make some chowder with our mussels, potatoes and seaweed.
We will find a sunny. seaside spot to cook up some freshly harvested samphire (a sea veg) with fresh Irish butter and Achille Island Sea Salt. Picnic style, with a lovely glass (or two) of wine.
Then off to Leenane to The Misunderstood Heron, a food truck of sorts along the Killary Fjord. This lil spot is a hidden gem with fresh seafood, amazing soups and a view to die for. Just a snack might be all that’s needed, but the view, oh the view.
Dinner will be at the SeaHare Kitchen in Clifden followed by some pubs and a music sesh (session) of traditional Irish music that can’t be beat.
6
We bid one another adieu
Care to take a sea-swim? Or a walk along the seashore? You’ll have time before we devour our last Irish breakfast together at Rosleague Manor at noon to transport you back to Galway City Centre. From Galway, you can hop on a train, or hire a car. Your Irish next journey awaits.
faq's
Heck no! You just need to get yourself and your travel companion to Galway in time for the Welcome Dinner Sunday night.
Yes, on our maiden voyage, we can only offer double occupancy. So find a fun friend, companion or partner. Each room will have two beds, so no worries there.
We will require each person to fill out a registration form that contains waivers, and a copy of your current vaccination card. A $500 per person, non-refundable deposit will be required to secure you and your companions spot on the tour.
Yes. The tour includes four amazing dinners, four lunches and five Irish Breakfasts, with wine (not at breakfast of course!). Some we will make during our cooking classes, with a few select restaurants chosen for the others. Trust us, you won’t be wanting for food!
Sorry, at this time, only 21 and older can join. Whiskey tours and nights out would not be advisable.
Strongly unadvisable on this food tour, gluten, shell fish, meat, dairy and eggs. And a lot of it! 🙂
At this time, although we’d really love to have you, if you need assistance walking, it’s not advisable for you to join us. Although we will be cooking and touring quite a bit, this trip is an active one, with walks and hikes scheduled every day.
You betcha, all are welcome!
Yes! Anne and myself with be with you the entire time. Our roles are to provide the most fun, informative, and enjoyable time of your life (I’m feeling very confident today! :). We want you to come back for our next tour! Besides, how else are you going to learn how to make the most amazing Irish breads from Anne?
Oh my goodness, no way! The point of this trip is to introduce you to the marvels of modern Irish cuisine. Land and sea, that’s what it’s all about. Oh and a little whiskey, wine and a Guinness or three. 🙂
Highly suggested. But please note: the deposit is non-refundable. AIG Travel Guard is recommended.
We sure will. When we get your flight information from you, we will give suggestions on getting to Oranmore. Once you arrive, we take care of all the transport for the week.
Here are some great ideas to round out your trip to the emerald isle!
– The Lost Valley
– Ireland Farm Stay
– Croagh Patrick, Westport, Co. Mayo
– Kylemore Abbey
– Doolin & evening cruise to see the Cliffs of Moher
– Inish Oirr (the tiny Aran Island)
– Ross Errily Friary
– The Burren
– The English Market, Cork
