To get there we took a drive through Fermanagh, along the north side of Lough Erne, and took in some striking scenery along the way. The areas surrounding Creevy are impressive too. It is situated minutes from Creevy Pier, Rossnowlagh Beach, Lough Erne and the tourist attractions of Bundoran and Belleek. The Cove, as it is known by locals, has that intangible atmosphere of relaxed, theraputic calm and the O'Tooles are well skilled in the art of hospitality.

The night we dined there, the room gurgled with a restrained festivity as a 40th wedding anniversary was celebrated on the other side of the room. It was a Friday night and the operation ran like a well-oiled machine. Service, provided by the O'Toole family and locals, was friendly and unstuffy. The dining room is mediumsized and seperated into two areas by black, wooden joists. It is warm and inviting, a wood-burning stove the centrepiece. For a Dubliner missing home . . . although I certainly wasn't . . . quaint prints of the capital's Georgian squares adorn many of the walls.

The menu read well: plenty of options and nothing stood out like a sore thumb.

As I had expected, there were plenty of seafood options, with an emphasis on Irish produce.

I was joined by CR, a whizz in the world of publishing . . . she has an adventurous palate and is a great cook. She thought the dining room was a bit like a "luxurious barn" and I suppose it did have a kind of barn shape to it.

To start, CR had first dibs and chose the mussels in a simple tomato, white wine, garlic and basil sauce. She loved it: "It's simple and the mussels are brazenly fresh." I agreed: the mussels were the freshest I'd tasted in a while. CR found a baby crab within one of the mussel shells, about the size of a pinkie nail; she didn't try it as it looked "too cute" . . . maybe not that adventurous a palate.

For me, the Heron's Cove salad of fresh leaves, Boilie cheese, boiled egg, herb croutons and a pumpkin seed dressing was good. Boilie cheese, which comes from Virginia, Co Cavan, is a great salad cheese. I enjoyed the salad, although the herb croutons were a touch too soggy. We shared a Classic Cellar Chardonnay, which was excellent for a single serve bottle. (I recommend asking for Classic Cellar by name as it is a good way to ensure a quality wine from a small bottle. ) The wine list at the Cove features "wines from around the world, which have their roots in Ireland. . . descendents of the Wild Geese". The 400th anniversary of the Flight of the Earls was celebrated recently in Donegal, hence some of the wines have been chosen for their Irish connection. We chose a Graves PessacLeognan, Chateau de Fieuzal, a chateau owned by Lochlainn Quinn, former AIB chairman and brother of Labour man Ruairi Quinn. It was exceptional, giving a rush of woody aromas to the nose and a complex, well-balanced acidity on the palate; a serious white and good value.

For mains, my monkfish and prawns in a lemongrass, leek and lime juice sauce with pilau rice was an excellent dish, all cooked perfectly, no flavour overpowering another . . . a real winner. CR's fillet of pork chasseur with a red onion and cranberry marmalade elicited groans of pleasure and a contended smile. I tasted it and it was perfect. Head chef Zak Gallagher knows how to let ingredients sing without getting too chefy, a refreshing change.

"I'm not French, so I really just like to use the best ingredients I can find without complicating flavours too much, " he says. He is joined in the kitchen by his cousin and part-time fisherman Paul Ricketts, so their connection to the sea is a strong one, too.

For afters, CR had the mixed wild-berry crepe with icecream. The ice cream was great . . . real vanilla . . . but I thought there was too much bitterness coming from the wild berries, although CR thought it was fine. My slice of carrot cake was superb.

We finished with two strong coffees and a long contented sigh. I would recommend the 'Dinner & Duvet' option at Heron's Cove, which starts at 90 per person for dinner, bed and breakfast and is well worth the money.