PIER PARADISE


When we say we like to find places off the beaten track, we really mean off the beaten track! The location of the Connemara Smokehouse and Visitor Centre is one of the most magnificently remote we’ve ever seen. A small white building on the end of Bunowen Pier, where fresh fish, including wild and farmed salmon, are smoked delicately in the traditional way, to produce artisan delights of superiour quality. Find the smokehouse by following the signposted road from Ballyconneely village. Take your time. Golden beaches are part of the scenery. On a blue skies and sunshine day, you’d be forgiven for thinking you were in the tropics, as miles and miles of creamy white sand and turquoise waters dot the coastline. As you follow the road past  beach and bay, you’ll see the smokehouse perched at the end of the pier. Here is nature at it’s most wildly beautiful, where natural and traditional products are created in magical surroundings. The Roberts family have been smoking fish here since 1979. Connemara Smokehouse kicks off our week of blogs specially dedicated to Good Food Ireland producers. As a ‘Come and See’ Producer, the Roberts welcome visitors to the smokehouse and shop on Mondays to Fridays,  with special guided tours and talks on production methods on Wednesdays. What a place to see the Atlantic coastline at it’s best, and meet a family dedicated to producing the best in Irish smoked fish. Don’t miss a chance to see it all for yourself.