The Admirals House on Bere Island is an ideal holiday home for anyone looking to explore the attractions of the Beara Peninsula. The Ring of Beara is a tourist trail of about 195 kilometres (120 miles) circumnavigating the peninsula. It starts in Kenmare, crossing the Healy Pass through Adrigole, passing Castletownbere, Allihies, the fork to Dursey Island, Eyeries and Ardgroom, ending in Glengarriff. The area has had a long connection with the sea, Castletownbere is one of Ireland's largest fishing ports and excellent sailing and boating facilities.

Castletownbere
Castletownbere (Baile Chaisleáin Bhéarra in Irish) is also known as Castletown Berehaven. The name of the town comes from the no longer extant MacCarty Castle and not Dunboy Castle, which was home to the O'Sullivan-Bere family and latterly the Puxley family. The conflict between the Gaelic former ruling family and newly enriched interlopers formed the basis for Daphne du Maurier's novel "Hungry Hill."

Dunboy Castle (Caisleán Dhún Baoi) was a stronghold of the O'Sullivan Beare, a Gaelic clan leader and 'Chief of Dunboy'. It was built to guard and defend the harbour of Bearhaven. Its presence there enabled O'Sullivan Beare to control the sea fisheries off the Irish coast and collect sizeable taxes from Irish and Continental fishing vessels sheltering in the haven. It was also a centre for the import/export trade to and from the Continent. Today, much of the castle is destroyed but the ruins are open to the public.

Dunboy Castle was the scene of the famous Siege of Dunboy in the summer of 1602 which ultimately led to its destruction and the breaking of the power of the O'Sullivan Beare. At that time Donal Cam O'Sullivan Beare was in rebellion against the English crown and Elizabeth I had sent a 5000 strong army under the command of Sir George Carew to suppress the insurgents. Even with its small garrison of 143 men Dunboy Castle was thought to be impregnable but following a fierce artillery bombardment the walls were smashed and after some desperate hand-to-hand fighting amid the rubble the defenders were finally overcome. The 58 survivors of the two week siege were executed in the nearby market square.

The deep-water harbour was, up to the 19th century, much used by smugglers. From 1922 to 1938, Berehaven was one of three Treaty ports in the Irish Free State, UK sovereign bases maintained by the Royal Navy. Castletownbere is currently one of the 5 main fishing ports on the island of Ireland.

The town has a population of around 875 in the 2002 census with a further 1 000 in the catchment area. The area has long attracted expatriate residents, with Dutch and German families long constituting membership of the local community.

Glengarriff
Glengarriff (Gleann Garbh in Irish, meaning "Rough glen") is a village of approximately 600 people in the south-west region of County Cork in the Republic of Ireland. Known internationally as a tourism venue, it boasts many natural attractions. It sits at the northern head of Glengarriff Bay, a smaller enclave of Bantry Bay. Located 20 km (12 miles) west of Bantry, and 30 km (18 miles) east of Castletownbere, it is a popular stop along the routes around the area.

Notably among local attractions, Garnish Island is well worth a visit, as is the more recently developed Bamboo Park. A botanical and horticultural paradise in Glenagarriff Bay, it is located about 25 minutes off-shore and accessible via small passenger ferries which depart from three different locations around the bay - Glengarriff Blue Pool, Glengarriff Pier and Shrone Slip. Also worth visiting is the national forest, with some of the oldest and most extensive oak and birch groves in Ireland.

Adrigole
Its name comes from the Irish phrase meaning "between two inlets". It has a sparsely distributed population of about 450 people. It is a scattered village strung along the head of a lovley inlet on the very scenic south coast of the Beara Peninsula. Looming over it is Hungry Hill (687m) with two rock-girt lakes which feed a fine cascade after rain. Hungry Hill is the highest of the Caha range which forms the spine of the peninsula, and gave its name to Daphne de Maurier's novel about the local copper-mining barons of the 19th century.

Allihies
A coastal village is located above Ballydonegan Bay on the western end of the Beara Peninsula between Cod's Head and Dursey Head . Up to the 1930s, it was a copper-mining site. An attempt was made to restart mining in the late 1950s by a Canadian mining company, but this came to nought. A local community group have set up the Allihies Copper Mine Museum. The Mountain Mine Man Engine House, located on the mountain above the village, has recently been conserved by the Mining Heritage Trust of Ireland.

Ardgroom
the village lies to the northwest of Glenbeg Lough, overlooking the Kenmare River estuary. Near the village lie a number of megalithic monuments, the most picturesque of which is probably the stone circle to be found to the southwest of the village. It has the name "Canfea" but is sometimes called the "Ardgroom SW" circle to distinguish it from the remains of another stone circle northeast of the village.

Eyeries
The village overlooks Coulagh Bay and the mouth of the Kenmare River. It nestles at the base of Maulin (2044ft/621m) the highest peak in the Slieve Miskish mountain range that forms part of the backbone of the peninsula. Eyeries was the location for the shooting of the film 'The Purple Taxi' (1977) starring Fred Astaire, Peter Ustinov and Charlotte Rampling, and also the TV series 'Falling for a Dancer' (1998), a dramatisation of life and love in 1930s Ireland based on the novel by Deirdre Purcell. Nearby is the Ballycrovane Ogham stone, the tallest known, standing 17.5ft (5.3m) high and bearing the inscription which translates as '(The stone of) the son of Deich the descendant of Torainn'.

Kenmare
The Irish name for the town 'An Neidín' translates into the English 'The Little Nest'. It has also been known as Inber Scéne in historical literature and mythology. Kenmare lies on two of the more famous Irish tourist attractions, the Ring of Kerry and the Ring of Beara, approximately 32 kilometres (20 miles) from Killarney. English scientist, Sir William Petty laid out the modern town circa 1670. However, the town has more ancient roots. There is one of the biggest stone circles in Ireland very close to the town, showing occupation by Celtic peoples long before English occupation. Vikings are said to have raided the area and named it the 'Head of the Sea'. This translates into the Irish Ceann Mara and was corrupted by the English into the modern day name of Kenmare.

See Wikipedia, Castletownbere, Glengarriff, Adrigole,Allihies, Ardgroom, Eyeries and Kenmare