West Cork

est Cork, from Kinsale to the Beara Peninsula and from the Atlantic to the Lee Valley, is remarkable for the many ways people make West Cork work for them. Alannah Hopkin discovers a vibrant community of diverse people with compelling stories to tell.

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West Cork, from Kinsale to the Beara Peninsula and from the Atlantic to the Lee Valley, is no longer an impoverished, rural backwater; it is a popular holiday destination where second homes become main residences. It is remarkable for the many ways people make West Cork work for them: traditional farmers negotiating EU quotas; newcomers setting up restaurants; artists, writers and dot.com millionaires starting ventures to allow them to live where they want. Others work to enhance this unique landscape: from environmental activists on Cool Mountain to the hard-working Shelswell-Whites of Bantry House, wealthy castle restorers like Jeremy Irons and innovative farmers on Beara. 'You can't eat scenery' is an old saying about the difficulty of making a living in beautiful but remote places. But Alannah Hopkin discovers a vibrant community of diverse people with compelling stories to tell.