Highfield Holidays

Being this close to the coast, it’s a given that your first outing (weather permitting) should be to toddle off to Tralee beach for a breath of salty sea air. It’ll only take you a few minutes to wander down there for a smashing stroll through the sand dunes and shingle. There’s a play park down there for the nippers and a café for a warming cup of hot choc if it’s a tad breezy. Intrepid types can plunge deep beneath the surface here to dive the wreck of the SS Breda, a cargo ship bombed in 1940; have a word with one of the dive centres in Oban (15 minutes’ drive away) to set up scuba adventures. While you’re in Oban you can read a bit more about the area’s wartime history at the Oban War & Peace Museum and raise a toast to a calmer future with a dram at the Oban Distillery. When you’re done with town time, make for Dunstaffnage Castle (15 minutes’ drive), a ruined waterside castle with some cracking sea views. You’ll get heaps of sea views on a Sealife Adventures boat trip round the Firth of Lorne (40 minutes) too – and with any luck, you’ll also be treated to sightings of dolphins, seals and basking sharks.