In 2015 Dervla James, her husband Johny Conlon and their daughter Edith moved back from Dublin to Dervla's home town, to set up a lovely café and bakery with views of Easkey Castle and the Atlantic Ocean.
It was something of a triumphal march, as Dervla already had a huge following at the much-loved Pepper Pot Café in Dublin’s Powerscourt Townhouse Centre, which she started with her business partner Marion Kilcoyne, who still runs it very successfully. The opening of a small business in a small village on the North-West coast wouldn't usually be the kind of news to attract the attention of editors, and it says a lot about Dervla's high standards that the move was covered in the national press as well as all the local papers.
At home in Easkey - a village that has improved a lot recently, and much of the change is community driven - Easkey House is part of a local/County Council/Heritage scheme and was opened by President Mary Robinson in 1996. As well as Pudding Row, there is a pottery shop, a gift shop, information centre and a surf shop.
Dervla is a baker by training (and baking classes may be available off season) so her fine selection of desserts and pastries earned a lot of fans - and people love that everything served is made in house, using locally produced ingredients as much as possible, with many ingredients name checked to credit the small producers that Dervla holds in such high regard.
Come the pandemic, Dervla and Johny opened Pudding Row the Grocer just down the street, selling all of their breads, cakes and lots of savoury options, all to take away. Also a lot of other retail items from great Irish producers - and bespoke 'Comfort Kits' for delivery nationwide. The Grocer has proved a huge success and may well become the main business - although many fans are still hoping that things will settle down and the café will reopen.
Either way Dervla and Johny deserve great praise - and Pudding Row is definitely worth a detour.
