Posted by David Hamilton on February 13th, 2009
“Bon-durant,” “Ben Durand,” “Bunduron,” and the ever-popular “Bund…urr… (mumble).” Mispronunciations and mis-spellings of Bundoran Farm abound, and as our reputation grows, may soon outnumber the many creative alternatives to “Leif Riddervold.” It’s hard enough to get a little Google attention without the direct competition of Bundoran, in County Donegal, Ireland. Our Bundoran is named for this town near the home of the Scott family forebears, who headed out from County Donegal to our Commonwealth in the mid-19th century. As the story goes, they showed up planning to build a farm named “Donegal,” but some other Irishmen had beaten them to the punch (there is a “Donegal Farm Road” even today in Albemarle County). The next best thing, they figured, was the port and market town of Bundoran, on Donegal Bay.
When I first arrived at Bundoran Farm to begin planning work, I did a bit of reading on the history of County Donegal. It’s a rugged landscape, the northernmost county in the Republic of Ireland, with an independent streak a mile long (they’re in Ulster province, but not in Northern Ireland, as is almost all of Ulster. Baffling, like all elements of UK governance). Sounds about right.
There’s a good start to the history of Donegal and Bundoran in the link here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/County_Donegal, and one of the most interesting items, to me, is the close relationship between Bundoran and nearby Derry. Oddly enough, Derry, New Hampshire was the home of Robert Baldwin, Sr., the originator of many of the concepts we employed in planning Bundoran, the man who worked closely with the Scotts to secure the future of their new world Bundoran, and the man who sent me down to live at Bundoran. Our “Derry Lane” is the resulting double-entendre.
One of the more surprising-but-popular outdoor activities at the “Old Bundoran” is linked below. Surfing. No, really, surfing, on the northernmost point of Ireland. It’s pretty interesting, or terrifying. The images (see below) are great, but don’t miss the daily surf report (“moderate swells, 8 degrees centigrade”). Ouch.
Check out our newest outdoor activity at: http://www.bundoransurfco.com
Filed under: Education and Inspiration, General
Perhaps it’s time to install a wave machine on Lake Scogo! Surf’s Up!
County Donegal is one of nine counties that make up the province of Ulster, 6 counties in the UK (Northern Ireland) and 3 in the Republic of Ireland.
The counties which became Northern Ireland were chosen because at the time, 1920, the majority of the population in the 6 counties were Protestants, whereas Catholics where in the majority in all other counties.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Partition_of_Ireland
P.S: Great website and a great idea. Keep up the good work