Whenever I tell people about my most memorable vacation, they stare at me with a combination of envy and disbelief.

 "You spent two weeks in Ireland with your entire family?" they ask.

"Yep -- my parents, my two sisters, our husbands, and four kids," I reply cheerfully. Altogether, 12 of us toured the Republic of Ireland for a week, then spent a week in County Down, Northern Ireland, where my father was born.

Fortunately, we are a close family and we get along well (aside from minor backseat squabbles among the kids). As a result, no relatives were harmed in the making of this vacation, although we may have mentally abused a few cows. But more on that later.

Finding a cottage
One of the first hurdles to overcome in planning an expedition of this scope was to find reasonably priced accommodation that could handle all of us at once. On previous trips, when there had been five of us at most, we had stayed with relatives, but there were too many of us this time to do that. In the Republic, we stayed in a combination of small hotels and large B&Bs, which worked out well. But the icing on the cake was our home in County Down: a pair of cottages my sister found on the Internet.

"Self-catering" cottages -- in other words, cottages with kitchen facilities -- are a popular vacation option throughout the U.K. and Ireland. Few, if any, fit the Canadian image of the word "cottage." Rather than wooden lakeside houses, Irish cottages are likely to be whitewashed dwellings hidden away among farms or overlooking the sea.

Our destination, the Lecale Cottages near the village of Rostrevor, was a collection of 10 cottages on 24 acres in a valley of the gentle Mourne Mountains. We rented two adjoining three-bedroom cottages, each of which seemed larger than the 1,000-square-foot house my husband and I owned in Ottawa.

Dividing the group
As the youngest couple, we volunteered to be house parents to the kids in one cottage, while the "grown-ups" took the identical unit next door. Our cottage had an open-concept living room/dining room, with a fireplace and enormous picture windows opening onto a field of wildflowers. When the sunset stained the surrounding hills purple in the twilight, the windows were like pieces of living art.

Of course, you can't eat scenery, but the cottages came up to scratch in the kitchen department, as well. Each unit boasted a full-sized fridge and stove, along with a dishwasher and microwave. There was also a peculiarly European machine that functioned as both washer and dryer, which we eventually mastered (but not before turning one load of laundry completely blue).

Our two cottages were the largest and best equipped on the property. Owners Liam and Eileen Baxter built them several years ago to appeal to the overseas market. Evidently, we North Americans demand more space and more bathrooms than European tourists do.

But the smaller cottages would also have been fine bases for an extended holiday. They all offered the chief attraction of any cottage vacation: a place big enough for family dinners, pick-up card games and impromptu parties with cousins. We are related to, by my estimate, about half of County Down, so there were a few late nights of drinks and stories around the kitchen table.

Experiencing the area
But while we could easily get together, we could also easily get away -- the other key to a great family vacation. With four rental cars between us, it was fairly simple for any combination of people to do their own thing. One day my husband and I drove to Dublin, two hours away, to catch a play at the Abbey Theatre. Another day, two carloads of us drove to the Giant's Causeway, an eerie collection of natural basalt rock formations sloping down to the North Channel of the Irish Sea. One day, all the womenfolk (and one brave brother-in-law) went shopping in the nearby town of Newry.

One bonus of renting a cottage is the chance to stay in one place for a while and get to know the neighbours. I went out for a hike one morning and ran into Mr. Baxter, our landlord, walking his dog. The kids hooked up with kids from other cottages for a few rounds of tennis. We attended a lightning-fast Mass (20 minutes, including homily) in the church just down the road. And after a few days of daily roast purchases, my mom and sisters were chatting with the local butcher like old friends.

Four-legged neighbours
Everyone was wonderfully friendly, but perhaps no one gave us a warmer welcome than the cows. The cottages were surrounded on all sides by farms, and the bovines next door were a great source of interest to us city folk. Partway through the vacation, my brother-in-law Dave discovered he had a hidden talent: the ability to moo convincingly.

One evening around 10:30, in the gentle dusk that lingers for hours in this northern latitude (Belfast is closer to the Arctic Circle than Edmonton is), Dave wandered along the hedgerow bordering the cottage and let out an inquiring moo. To his surprise, an answering bellow came from the other side of the field.

As we gathered to watch, cows started ambling stupidly across the field, pure love in their eyes. Dave continued to moo, flicking his head and pawing the ground with his feet for added effect. Within minutes, the entire herd had assembled at the hedgerow. Unfortunately, by that time, we had all collapsed in hysterics. My late grandfather, who once farmed land a few miles from Lecale Cottages, would probably have been dismayed by the lot of us.

Connecting with our roots
On our last afternoon in County Down, we visited the farmstead where my father was born. The house has been demolished, but an abandoned outbuilding still stands on the site. My cousin, who now owns the property, chipped off pieces of stone windowsill for each of us, which we put carefully into pockets and purses.

This trip had been Dad's idea and my parents' treat from the beginning, and we had all enthusiastically agreed. More than seven decades earlier, when Dad was just a baby, his family had left this patch of ground for more promising fields abroad. But on this trip, he'd been able to give a bit of it back to his children and grandchildren.

Yes, we're now a few decades or generations removed from the farm -- given more to chatting with cows than milking them. But staying in rural cottages instead of an urban hotel allowed us, in a small way, to get a bit closer to our roots.

If you go
Numerous web sites list cottages throughout Ireland and the U.K. that are available for rent. For properties in the Republic, try Irish Cottage Holiday Homes and CountryCottagesOnline (the latter also has cottages in Great Britain, but not Northern Ireland). For cottages throughout the British Isles, including Northern Ireland, try CottageNet.

We rented the Carnaclasha and Owenabwee units at the Lecale Cottages. Each sleeps six, and rents for £650 (about $1,400 Canadian) per week year round, including linens. Smaller units start at £230 ($500) per week. For more information, contact Eileen and Liam Baxter, 125 Kilbroney Road, Rostrevor, Co. Down, Northern Ireland BT34 3BW. Tel.: 011-44-28-41738727 or lecalecottages.co.uk. E-mail: rostrevorhols@aol.com.

When renting any cottage, find out whether linens are included; some properties require guests to bring their own bedding and towels. In rural areas, be prepared to drive a bit to find a bank machine. In fact, a rental car is essential, as public transit is rare on small country roads. Gas prices are roughly double Canadian prices, but most rental cars are small, so you'll get good mileage. For the best prices, arrange the rental in Canada before you leave.

For more information on travelling to either Northern Ireland or the Republic of Ireland, contact Tourism Ireland. Tel.: 1-800-223-6470 or shamrock.org. There's also a site specifically for Northern Ireland at discovernorthernireland.com.