My Secrets Northern Ireland started life in mid-2008 when a Greek girl who was living in Northern Ireland decided to pass on here expriences.
Below is taken from her own about us page back in 2008
All about me
So… who’s that girl that knows all about Northern Ireland Tourism, then…
Come in, have the comfy seat near the fire and I will put the kettle on…
My name is Esther. I came to Northern Ireland from sunny Greece, via England where I spend six years.
Why I came to Northern Ireland:
People ask me why I came to Northern Ireland. Why! For the weather of course! I have saved my face a few years of sun damage, don’t you think? Joking aside, my husband’s work obligations brought us to this gorgeous island.
When we first set foot on Northern Ireland, little did we know that it would win our hearts forever.
We settled in a perfect little town and set to explore that corner of the Emerald Isle. We traveled extensively with babies and small children in tow, and enjoyed every moment of it. We relished the friendship of the local people and we almost dared to call it idyllic.
Why I started this website:
And then? Then we moved to another part of the world and I became terribly homesick.
I missed the cool weather, the mist and the drizzle, I missed the potato farls, my many friends, the child-friendly parks and museums. I missed rolling hills, the unending green, the thatch-roofed cottages, the red hair and the warm smiles of people I didn’t even know greeting me while I walked down the street.
And so I started writing a travelogue. I thought that perhaps, by delving in the familiar past might help me cope with the transition to my new host country. I am happy to say that it has worked. In celebrating the past, I have found joy in the present.
It all started as I went down memory lane, revisiting our family’s favourite spots of Northern Ireland. This is my tribute to the green and pleasant land that was etched into our minds and hearts.
And since I was at it, why not share it with the world? If I can help showcase Northern Ireland and its talented people, might as well do it in a bigger scale. And voila!
my-secret-northern-ireland.com came into existence! A Northern Ireland travel guide that gives you our personal insights. Here you will find the distilled essence of those five years of exploring, together with a big dose of background information.
It is a work in progress so do check back again. In fact, you might want to subscribe to our news blog so you never miss an update.
Following Esthers departure from Northern Ireland the site went into a number of years of stagnation, only kept online by hosting companies recurring fees.
In the autum of 2019, while doing keyword and competitor research for a client we came across My secret Northern Ireland and saw the opportunity to develop it. So we approached Esther and bought the site off of her.
Once we had brought it into the Content Kings stable and started to figure out how we could best use the site. Instead of going down our usual route of setting the site up to make money for us, we decided, as we live in Northern Ireland, to develop the site for tourism in the areas as at the time (and still) very few locally based Northern Irish guides other than the local government tourism sites….and we all know how poor they are despite their authority.
However, tragedy struck in the form of the Covid 19 pandemic only a few short months after the site was transferred. This meant that for quite some time we could not get out an about to show off the stunning north of ireland to anyone. This sadly meant the site was once again left in a state of online paralysis as we left the project on the back burner for a couple of years.
However, in 2023 we decided to relaunch MSNI to document our own travels with our kids and bring you as many great travel ideas around northern ireland as possible.
We hope you enjoy the site update and reading about our travels.
If you want to get in touch feel free to use out contact us lpage