My Favourite Place

Sarah Webb

When I was a young child, Castlehaven beach, near Castletownshend, West Cork was flooded with jellyfish. I spend a happy afternoon collecting these tiny transparent spheres in buckets with my sisters and depositing them in one particular rock pool; the pool becoming one huge quivering mass of jelly. Then we watched as the tide came in and the jellyfish swam away. My parents were quite happy to lounge in the sun, reading (mum) and snoozing (dad). Castletownshend holidays were always like this – a delightful mix of water-based activity – rowing, swimming, ‘fishing’; punctuated by restful times reading, playing board games and making ‘houses’ in the garden.

Several years ago, my parents bought a house overlooking the sea on the main street in Castletownshend. And since then, I’ve spent as much time as I can down there enjoying the peace, the exceptional food in Mary-Ann’s pub and restaurant, and catching up on so much reading that my eyes are almost falling out of my head. Sometimes I move the desk into my bedroom, facing the sea and I write, allowing the tangy sea air to smooth and round my words.

Castletownshend is more than just a place to me, it’s a feeling. Face free of make up, feet free of socks, hair wind-swept. In Castletownshend it’s the freedom to just ‘be’ that I love the most.

Sunday Tribune 2004