LACKAN COTTAGE FARM
Home of Birch Cottage Off Grid Self Catering
Tranquil self catering in the Mournes
You can wake to a view of the beautiful birch woods outside your window, and enjoy the peace and quiet. Â Here you are surrounded by birdsong, clean air, and wonderful views. Walk in the woods, meet the horses and relax. Set beside the Mournes, Birch Cottage offers luxury self catering with wonderful views of the mountains and woodland.
Some of the most stunning countryside in Northern Ireland is on your doorstep, as is the seaside town of Newcastle. The Mourne Mountains, Tollymore and Castlewellan forest parks, Newcastle beach and stunning Silent Valley are just a short drive away.
Come and stay in Northern Ireland’s only off-grid self catering cottage. Visitors can sample life on our pioneering Green Tourism gold rated smallholding.
The good life experience
We are pioneers of the growing ecotourism and green tourism movement here in the Mournes, Northern Ireland. Consequently, sharing our lifestyle, fresh produce, and experiences with visitors is all part of the unique visitor experience.
Birch Cottage is off grid accommodation without compromise – hand crafted, comfortable, and it has wonderful views. It really is the greenest self catering holiday cottage in Northern Ireland, being Tourism NI 4 star rated, Green Tourism Gold rated and the first Green Key accredited accommodation in Northern Ireland or Ireland.
Birch Cottage self catering
Book direct here on the website to get the best rates
Our story
We are fortunate to have this opportunity and as a result be able to live the way we do. It is becoming increasingly apparent that as a society, we can’t go on the way we have been.Consequently something has to give. As we talk to people, their frustration at inequality and instability is obvious. Furthermore, environmental and economic worries serve to highlight the need for alternative solutions.
Lackan Cottage Farm is our response to that. Consequently, as well as upskilling ourselves to be better able to cope, we are empowering others to do the same. Likewise, we provide self catering accommodation so that they can come and experience it for themselves here in the Mournes. Therefore everything we offer here comes from our own experience and is created to be really special. We hope you will love it as much as we do.
Steve & Claire Golemboski-Byrne
Forthcoming events
News and events from Lackan
When Paddy met Sean. Round 2.
Poor old Paddy. He woke up on Monday morning with what can at best be classed as terrible constipation. Horses are trickle feeders, and their gut relies on a small steady intake of food to keep everything moving. Colic, usually down to impactions or eating something that has decided to disagree with them, is never a good thing in horses and ponies, and down the years we’ve lost one or two to such things. Hence when it appeared that Paddy had spent a whole night rolling around his stable in discomfort, we called up Sean the vet immediately.
Our first grape harvest
We had a surprise grape harvest this year – it is only the second year we’ve had grapes at all, and it was incredible to part the undergrowth and find so many. Very tasty they were too, but we realised that we’d have to do something with them as there were far too many to eat. Luckily our friend Ingrid had lent us her steamer-juicer. This incredible thing basically juices most things without a load of messing around removing stalks and stems.
Better firewood storage
This is one of thoseobvious things that I should have thought of a lot sooner. Our woodstore is on the back of the cottage with a door that allows you to get in from inside the house. It has slatted walls to let air circulate, but its always had a solid roof because...