Short break: County Cork, Ireland

For tasty food and scenery, you can’t beat the south-west corner of the Emerald Isle for a hearty slice of the country’s best bits in miniature, says Phoebe Smith

The south-western corner of the Emerald Isle is home to wild walks, a wealth of historic buildings and a rich dollop of speciality cuisine, making the city an alternative foodie hub

More food?” asked the waitress as I polished off my dessert in the old halls of Cork City’s English Market. If the Emerald Isle’s largest county had a catchphrase, this would unequivocally be it. Whether you’re in the eponymously named capital, visiting one of its many thriving eateries, stopping at a tiny café on the windswept coast while driving the Wild Atlantic Way or taking a boat out to one of the little islands cast out into the ocean, food is never far away, and the friendly Corkonians are always keen to offer you their locally sourced fare.

Surrounded by prime farmland perfect for dairy cows, craggy peaks dotted with sheep, and an oceanside setting stocked to the gills with fish and seafood, it’s an area where farm-to-table cuisine is always on the menu. But it’s not only the food that is mouthwatering. The county is also home to the famed Blarney Stone (which, legend has it, you must kiss to receive the gift of eloquence) and its accompanying castle, not to mention the gothic St Fin Barre’s Cathedral in the city of Cork, the ornate gardens of the stately 17th-century Bantry House and a plethora of other architectural offerings. There are more than enough significant buildings here to keep history-hungry travellers at bay.

Between these landmarks are also found a sprawling collection of market and port-side towns. A particularly tasty morsel is found on Bantry Bay, where colourful houses line the water’s edge, while a ferry can take the intrepid to windswept Whiddy Island, home to a 6th-century graveyard, holy well and an abandoned school, all of which can be explored by bike or on foot.

For a visual feast of Irish wildlife, head to Baltimore, entry point to the Atlantic Ocean. Here, regular aquatic visitors include basking sharks and minke whales, and the cliffs are home to flocks of jostling, squawking, bickering seabirds.

Hikers will be spoilt with hearty helpings of options, too. The wild peninsulas of Sheep’s Head (home to a long-distance walking path that you can easily slice and dice), Beara (with its Neolithic stone circle) and Mizen (home to Ireland’s most south-westerly point) are perfect for a stroll.

It’s no wonder that, after all that, locals are accustomed to dishing out food to ravenous visitors. As well as plenty of seafood, all that green grass has given rise to some dairy specialities. Be sure to try O’ Conaill chocolate (both the drink and the bars – there’s even a bakery in the city centre). Also taste the local cheeses, from the harder Milleens to the softer Ardrahan, as well as the classic melt-in-the-mouth Coolea cheddar.

Lastly, of course, there’s ample amounts of local beer. Forget Guinness, Cork’s famous tipple is Murphy’s, a stout that is practically made for toasting a county where you can, literally, have your cake and eat it, too...