Northern Ireland and the Secret Muffins – Reconciliation and Hope
The Green Holiday Cottages Rhubarb Muffins – Best Rhubarb Muffins Ever!
3.5 oz margarine (about half a cup)
8 oz sugar (caster) – this isn’t icing sugar, just grind regular white sugar in your food processor.
2 large eggs
¼ pint of whole milk (or buttermilk) (that’s about ½ cup)
3 T. natural yogurt
2-3 cups rhubarb (chopped fresh or thaw – not stewed)
Cream margarine and sugar well. Add eggs, milk and yogurt.
Then add:
9 ½ oz. plain flour (a heaping full cup)
1 tsp. Bicarbonate of soda (or use self rising flour and omit the bicarbonate).
Pinch salt.
Do not overmix. Add blueberries, etc, or chocolate chips. I used dried cranberries. Delightful!
375f for 22-25 min. Makes 24.
Now, why would Jenny and Mark from Northern Ireland (“the North of Ireland”) give their best kept secret “Rhubarb Muffin” recipe, to a stranger from Canada? I’m talking a recipe that’s been in the family at least three generations?
“What does hypnotherapy have to do with muffins?
Both are provided by someone who cares, inspires, and are a sweet change!”
Maybe it’s the same reason Jenny and Mark and their family chose to stay in northern Ireland, once a country of disruption, terrorism, and division. That answer is resilience, dream, and daring to hope in themselves and their community.
Part 2 of my series on northern Ireland is about how a wee family business survived, grew and thrived, despite the odds. How a couple of northern Ireland farm kids created connections across the Atlantic, and cemented the attitude of hope and belief that mended stone fences and made memories that will last a lifetime.
Mark Hanna, the co-owner of The Green Holiday Cottages explains how a stone fence was built, and why it was built the way it was, centuries ago and still is today.
When Mark Hanna told his wife Jenny that he’d bought the former flax and corn mill in Kilkeel, northern Ireland, she was shocked. Not only was she working in England at the time, but restoring the mill required much more money and work than she thought Mark and his brother could accomplish.
Although Mark was a handy guy, he worked as a high school English teacher. Jenny was across the water working as a registered nurse in England. At the time, the mill had been abandoned for decades. It was derelict and forgotten.
“A great price, but really Mark?” It was 2008 when the brothers Timothy and Mark Hanna bought the old farm buildings and began their dream.
“A great price, but really Mark?”
Mark and Timothy wanted to create a retreat center with guest accommodations. The mill had been built on a river, the Kilkeel River, which fed into the Irish Sea. The property, less than a mile from the ocean, was a lovely location, with a view of the Mourne Mountains. Fields nearby were green as green, with lovely large trees (a fairy tree or two), hand built rock walls, and buildings made of stone hewn by hand from the nearby granite quarry.
The Irish Sea is within a mile of The Green Holiday Cottages. Jenny swims here most days of year.
The Mourne Mountains; idyllic and post card perfect are just a half hour from The Green Holiday Cottages’ doorstep.
The corn and flax mill had been built in the 1700’s, and was in operation for over 150 years, milling local grains into flour. It was the hub of the local community.
After WWI, with the beginning of trade and automation, the mill shut down. Over time it was used as byres (cow sheds), housed chickens, and used as granaries. Resold, it became a dairy farm, and later, a cattle auction mart. Finally, in the 1970’s, it closed for good, and pigeons and other birds, deer and fox made it their home.
This is how the Old MIill looked when the Hanna brothers first bought the property.
When the Hanna brothers began the reparation, they’d already had a bit of experience with renovating several houses, and properties. Hard work was nothing new to them. They’d been born farm kids in the 1970’s in the Kilkeel, northern Ireland area, in the middle of the Troubles, when times were turbulent, jobs and people were leaving northern Ireland because of fear and disruption. Religion played a part in the Troubles, as did Ireland’s history with England.
Religion played a part in the Troubles, as did Ireland’s history with England.
Mark and Jenny, (who was also from the area) were married in the 1980’s, had 3 children, and also chose to leave their homeland to move across the water to England to work and live.
However, with three incomes going towards the renovations, it seemed possible that the brothers’ dream may come true. That meant restoring, renovating, tearing some buildings down, and building some back up.
Tragically in 2012, Mark’s brother was diagnosed with a brain tumor. Passing away months afterwards, their dream may have died with him. In retrospect, this event may have been the impetus for even greater strides towards completion. At this point, Jenny joined the work crew.
Together, Jenny and Mark raised their family on the site, and worked hard.
At last, in 2016, they welcomed visitors to the first self-contained suite they called “Wee Home”. A year later, the second suite, “The Granary” opened.
A “Wee Home” away from home. Each of the 6 suites at Green Holiday Cottages has separate bedrooms, a fully contained kitchen, dining and living area, and self-contained washroom with shower.
My suite, “The Coop” could comfortably accommodate 6 people in 3 separate bedrooms. I loved my apartment where I met some lovely life-long friends from Philadelphia, New York and Boston.
When I met Jenny and Mark in June of this year, all six suites in “The Green Holiday Cottages” were full.
Jenny and Mark Hanna, owners and operators of The Green Holiday Cottages, Kilkeel, northern Ireland, standing in front of their “Occasional Cafe”. The Cafe was used for our retreat to meet, share ideas, delve into the history, and learn about the on-going reconciliation process in northern Ireland.
My 2nd story bedroom window was in “The Coop”.
This suite had formerly been a chicken coop during the days the flax and corn mill transformed into a working farm.
My glorious bedroom in “The Coop” had 12” thick stone walls, and a window overlooking the Mourne Mountains. I was in heaven.
The journey from the 1970’s to 2024, fifty years since The Troubles of Northern Ireland first imploded, was not easy. Both Jenny and Mark were born into Troubled times. Why did they choose to stay in a country where terrorism and fear shook the hardiest?
A simple answer, “Hope.”
A simple answer, “Hope.”
The author of the book “Between the Bells”, northern Ireland author Paul Hutchinson, writes, “Hope is … a prayer that faces the world in all its pain, hate and fear, but that also sees something else/someone else ‘in the midst’ of life in all its torn and beautiful tapestry. Hope is not about being in denial.”
“Hope is … a prayer that faces the world in all its pain, hate and fear, but that also sees something else/someone else ‘in the midst’ of life in all its torn and beautiful tapestry. Hope is not about being in denial.”
Paul Hutchinson, author of “Between the Bells, Stories of Reconciliation”
Director, Corrymeela Peace Centre, Ballycastle, Northern Ireland, UK
The path on the property winds past a field with a friendly goat, who loves to be admired and eat from your hand.
Jenny and Mark are not outwardly religious and welcome visitors from continents around the world. As I write this, I know they recently hosted American, Polish, Canadian, and visitors from the UK, as well as guests daily in their “Occasional Cafe”.
Jenny and Mark in in front of their Occasional Cafe.
Jenny and Mark describe to their guests how the stone wall was built, and how it’s construction helped to off-set flooding from the Kilkeel River that flows through the property.
In order to believe in a dream, there first must be recognition, not denial of problems.
You can’t make a rhubarb muffin until you realize that not everyone has a taste for rhubarb. And, that’s how the gradual peace process and reconciliation in northern Ireland began. It began with hope and a dream.
A playful goat who loves to be fed begs to be scratched behind the ears
You can’t build a dream until you realize that northern Ireland, still building, still growing together, is also growing its tourism industry. And because of this, much about northern Ireland seems cleaner, more welcoming, caring and kind. No one that I met in northern Ireland who has lived here through the Troubles denies that times were difficult.
With myself, and what I’ve learned from my clients, childhood trauma stays with us long into adulthood. It’s necessary to be aware of the truth, accept it as truth, and take action to change the way we live each day, recognizing we can’t change the past. We have only today to live differently, and that, changes the future.
A stepping stone path leads visitors across the Kilkeel River on the property of The Green Holiday Cottages.
Northern Ireland today, without the masses of summer-time visitors on the streets of Dublin or Cork or Galway in the republic of Ireland, have national parks and conservation areas that are relatively untouched.
You can, if you are bold like Jenny, swim in the ocean every day, without fear. The streets of Kilkeel are inviting, with the best pizza you can find on the entire green island.
Walking along the ocean, collecting stones and ocean glass, into the dusk of a long summer’s evening, you see hardly a soul. And if you do, they too, are people who are reflecting their day, happy to see you here.
With myself, and what I’ve learned from my clients, childhood trauma stays with us long into adulthood. It’s necessary to be aware of the truth, accept it as truth, and take action to change the way we live each day, recognizing we can’t change the past. We have only today to live differently, and that, changes the future.
The Mourne Mountains; no one in sight, other than folks from my own retreat group
As well, when I walked for 3 hours on a lovely trail into the Mourne Mountains, I scarcely saw anyone, other than from my own group.
The prices in the shops in Belfast and other towns was reasonable and not unlike what I’d pay in Canada. For most European countries, that’s unheard of today.
Fran, with Karen and Jasmin, fellow retreaters from America
So, what is the difference? Why do this uncommonly-done-thing, called “go to a retreat”, and “be a tourist in Northern Ireland”?
Simply I say, “It’s an amazing country, with kind people who are creating a new history through reconciliation, remembrance, and resilience.”
What’s your preference, the “sweet treats” of Europe or the “organics” and rhubarb of northern Ireland?
For me, it’s the relationship, the caring and sharing, of culture, tradition, history, and rhubarb that hits my “sweet” spot.
Til next time,
In the spirit of healing,
Fran
The homemade treats The Green Holiday Cottages share with their retreat guests.