The whole place. For ten.
The cottage, both cabins, the sauna, and all three hot tubs: yours alone, for the family you’re travelling with. Six in Ruby’s Cottage. Two in Rae’s, two in Margaret’s. One booking. No other guests on the property.
The cottage, both cabins, the sauna, and all three hot tubs: yours alone, for the family you’re travelling with. Six in Ruby’s Cottage. Two in Rae’s, two in Margaret’s. One booking. No other guests on the property.
There’s a kind of family holiday that doesn’t quite work in a single big house. The teenagers want their own space. The grandparents want quiet evenings. The couple who travel with you want a door they can close. And yet everyone wants to be together: same dinner, same fire pit, same morning over coffee.
The cottage and the two cabins are named for the family who kept this place going: Ruby, the blacksmith Davey John’s wife, and their daughters Rae and Margaret. There’s a proper story behind the names, and it was Rae who kept Davey John’s Forge alive and handed it on.
Ruby’s Cottage has its own hot tub in the gazebo, looking out across Mulroy Bay. Rae’s is on the covered deck, looking out over the street and into the bay beyond. Margaret’s is on the dusk-side deck, with the field to the left or the bay and hills straight ahead. The sauna is in the old peat shed at the heart of the courtyard, the three buildings circling around it.
When you book the whole place, every one of these is yours and yours alone. The teenagers can have the cottage hot tub to themselves while the couples each have their own deck. Or everyone can pile into the sauna together at nightfall and then split off into three hot tubs to look at the stars. It works whichever way you want it to.
Three buildings means three private retreats. The shared parts (the sauna, the quartz-paved courtyard between buildings, the games room in the old forge, the cottage kitchen big enough for two families cooking together, the long dining table) are where the holiday actually happens together. Breakfast at the cottage, sauna at nightfall, the games room for whoever needs to slip away for an hour, then everyone disperses into their own hot tub before bed.
The games room itself (stone walls, the whiskey-stave table, chess and darts, a TV with Xbox, and probably the best bay view on the property) is one of the quieter surprises. The Wi-Fi reaches there, so the call that couldn’t wait can be taken without leaving the place.
Whole-place bookings have a few specifics worth pre-empting: the sleeping arrangement, what’s shared, the dogs, the drive. Better said here than after the car’s packed.
One king, one double, one bunk room: sleeps six. One bathroom with shower. Wood-burner, country kitchen, two green Chesterfields, the red barn door to the private bay-view hot tub.
Each cabin sleeps two: one bedroom, one bathroom. Each has its own kitchen, hot tub, deck, and BBQ pavilion with a ceramic-egg grill. Three bathrooms across the whole place in total.
Hot-stone sauna in the courtyard. The games room: TV and Xbox, chess, darts, strong Wi-Fi, the best bay view on the property. The bay-view garden. The quartz-paved courtyard between buildings.
A travel cot for the cottage bunk room if you’re travelling with a toddler. The sofa in Margaret’s folds out to a queen if a fifth couple wants in. We keep a couple of inflatable mattresses on site for any family member who’d otherwise feel left out.
They’re welcome across the whole place: the cottage, the cabins, the garden, the courtyard. We ask for a maximum of two dogs per unit; let us know in advance.
Devlinmore, just above Carrigart in north Donegal. The cottage looks out across Mulroy Bay. Letterkenny is about twenty-five minutes south, Downings is a five-minute drive for the harbour bar and the beach, and Rosapenna and St Patrick’s golf are right next door.
Three nights. Whole-place bookings are usually best booked direct rather than through the platforms; get in touch if you’d like to talk it through.
Booking the whole place gives you the lot: every kitchen and hot tub, the sauna, the games room. Rather than repeat all three lists here, here’s where each one lives:
The estate sits between Milford and Carrigart at Devlinmore, four kilometres from the village. Mulroy Bay is across the road; Downings and the harbour bar are five minutes; Rosapenna and St Patrick’s golf are next door; Letterkenny is around twenty-five minutes south. Fanad Lighthouse, Glenveagh National Park and the Atlantic Drive are all within an easy day.
