Listing the Emerald Isle's inns and guesthouses, this guide offers a wealth of useful information on booking reservations and understanding the different types of housing. Tips on sites to see in each locale and histories of each home are also furnished. Notes on such diverse matters as money, car rentals, and the weather are included, as well as a chapter on self-catering, for those who prefer the convenience of cooking for themselves while on vacation.
Elsie Dillard was born and raised in London. She moved to the United States in 1957 and married a few years later. In 1961, she moved to Seattle and founded the travel agency Elsie from England, which specialized in arranging bed and breakfast trips to Great Britain. She ran the agency for twenty-five years before it was sold. After her youngest daughter married and moved away, Dillard thought the house was too lonely and opened her own bed and breakfast called Bay Manor. The bed and breakfast gave her a way to meet new people and to express her own European hospitality in America. Although Dillard remains in Seattle, she still travels to England and Ireland frequently to enjoy the atmosphere and update her travel guides.