Spring is in the air, the trees are in blossom … and chocolate is on everyone’s lips – yes, it’s Easter, and one of the nicest times of the year to visit Westport! Here are some decidedly Easter-ey things to do while you’re in town.
Easter egg hunt at Westport House
Every year, Westport House and Estate throw a massive Easter egg hunt on Easter Sunday, from 11am to 6pm. Anyone with a ticket to Westport House’s famous Pirate Adventure Park can join in, no extra charge. The house’s own mascot – the legendary Pinkie Rabbit – will be on hand to add some extra hoppiness to the fun.
The first 300 children to complete the hunt will receive a free Easter egg and be in with a chance to win some great prizes in a draw that will take place at 5 pm. If that wasn’t enough, the estate’s theme park is opening eight new attractions this Easter with exciting new rides and activities aimed at keeping the little ones entertained. A day of hunting for chocolate and exploring a pirate-themed adventure park? Yes please!
Westport Easter Walking Festival
The days are longer at last, and the pull of the mountain path is strong. Westport’s annual Easter Walking Festival, which traditionally takes place over the Easter weekend, is the perfect way to get back in your stride. The two-day hike includes an ascent of Connacht’s highest mountain, Mweelrea (814m) and an ascent of Leenane Hill (730m), just over the county border. The whole adventure is led by experienced guide Gerry Greensmyth, a fount of knowledge about the local history and folklore of the routes covered. See Croagh Patrick Walking Tours for information on special hotel rates for festival goers, as well as more information on the festival.
Divine chocolate
What do you think of when you think of Easter? For many people, it will be some strange combination of religion, chocolate, lambs and bunnies. At Kylemore Abbey in Letterfrack, just a 40-minute drive from Westport, you’ll find a wonderful combination of the first three. The abbey’s Benedictine nuns are not only esteemed educators, they are also master chocolatiers, producing heavenly homemade chocolate so divine you’d think the devil himself was at work. Best of all, they make gorgeous lamb-shaped chocolates too! Who needs Easter eggs when you can have chocolate lambs?! After gorging yourself on chocolate and the other delights on offer at the abbey’s café or its tea house, you can head out and walk off all those extra calories by taking a stroll in the beautiful grounds of the abbey, admiring the gardens and estate in their full springtime glory.
Ballintubber
For those wishing to experience Easter in its true Christian sense, the moving and inspiring ‘Passion Play’, or ‘The Triumph of Easter’ as it is also called, is staged annually each Holy Week in the grounds of historic Ballintubber Abbey. Every year since 1982, the men, women and children of Ballintubber (it involves around 90 people altogether) come together to put on this powerful drama, which centres on Jesus’s journey on the Road to Calvary, his crucifixion and subsequent rising from the dead. This is no amateur show – the production, the lights and the sound are top quality and a stand, and sheltered seating has recently been erected to shelter the audience from any stray drops of rain. The performances take place on the Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday of Holy Week, with shows starting nightly at 9 pm. Patrons are advised to arrive from 8.30pm to be seated and to dress warmly. There is no admission fee, but donations will be accepted by local bucket collectors after the performance. The usual Easter ceremonies take place during the rest of the week, including an early morning lakeside Mass on Easter Sunday.
Count sheep
Lambing season is in full swing around Easter time, and where better than Westport to get up close and personal with an adorable little ball of fluff? A two-minute drive out of town in any direction and you’re bound to see a gang of them gambolling and gallivanting around a green field. Could anything be more uplifting than watching a little troupe of little lambs running, jumping and springing, full of the joys of life? Guaranteed to melt the hardest heart. If you’d like to get closer, visit Catherine O’Grady Powers (pictured) at Glen Keen Farm, 14 miles south of Westport Town. Family-run and one of the largest sheep farms on the Wild Atlantic Way, it sits smack-bang in an area that has been deemed a special area of conservation for its natural beauty, unique habitats and wildlife. Visiting families can experience all sorts of demonstrations, from sheep herding to sheep shearing and even wool spinning!
