vallierojas: Plane sailing: a seaplane ride in Fermanagh

An aerial tour is a stunning way to see Lough Erne in Fermanagh, Northern Ireland, which is holding a festival next month at its original second world war seaplane base

Ten more great outdoor activities in Ireland

Arcing over the silver, gleaming waters of Lough Erne, suddenly we were time-machined back to the second world war. My two youngest kids started communicating through their headsets in the rear of the cockpit as if they were in a war film, on a daring flying mission across Nazi Germany.

"Meerkat to Mongoose, over!" screeched Ellen.

"Mongoose to Meerkat, roger!" replied her brother Patrick, acknowledging her call sign.

Such was the excitement building up inside our seaplane as our jolly pilot Captain Stephen Powell took us on a breathtaking aerial tour of Fermanagh's scenic lakeland.

The exhilaration reached a crescendo when our plane dived towards the lough and then, on hitting the water, skidded to a halt.

"Now we are a boat!" Captain Powell informed us, prompting furious applause from the two small co-pilots just behind us.

It was a poignant way to take in the expansive beauty of the lough, which locals will tell you has 365 islands, some big, some small and one for every day of the year. During the second world war the lake was a watery base/runway for flying boats and seaplanes that took off from this north-west corner of Ireland to hunt for U-boat packs in the Atlantic.

In homage to the men and machines that flew from Lough Erne into the U-boat-infested ocean, a seaplane festival will be held in Fermanagh on 23-25 September this year. They have even invited back some of the veteran pilots who flew Catalinas and other seaplanes during the Battle of the Atlantic.

These days, the seaplanes over the Fermanagh lakeland are used for far less dangerous functions. When we took off again by streaking across the lough at top speed and then thrusting upwards into the sky, Captain Powell pointed out that the day before a young man had proposed to his girlfriend in the seat behind us ? producing an engagement ring from his pocket on landing. Captain Powell and his team have also taken just-married couples from the little airport of St Angelo at the edge of Enniskillen to some of the six major hotels dotted around the lough.

During our three-day, two-night stay we billeted in the Westville Hotel in the centre of Enniskillen. It is a friendly, family-run boutique hotel where the accent is firmly on the hospitality that Fermanagh is famous for.

The hotel is a swish, trendy sort of place but has none of the snooty airs and graces you find at some four-stars, especially when accompanied by the noisy, excitable small children I had in tow after our seaplane adventure.

As well as its stunning scenery, the capital of Fermanagh and surrounding countryside is noted for its fresh, organic food. Inside the Westville we tasted the best of rural Ulster. On our first night I tasted the freshest, most perfectly cooked fish cakes I have ever had the pleasure to consume. And even my notoriously fussy six-year-old son wolfed down a whole steak.

These high standards were maintained the following evening at Francos, an Italian restaurant that is a local legend ? we devoured wood-oven cooked pizza and fresh, handmade pasta.

On day two we switched our mode of transport and boarded the MV Kestrel, a tour boat that took us on a winding journey underneath bridges, past Portora School, where the likes of Oscar Wilde and Samuel Beckett were taught, to the side of little islands that are still inhabited, and onwards to one of the holiest sites of medieval Ireland.

Our erudite and chatty crew sailed us to Devenish island, which became a monastic enclave in the 12th century, and where to this day the round tower built by the Augustinian monks looms over the land and water. And as we happy three climbed the steps of the St Mary's Augustinian Priory, in hope of a glimpse of the Blue Stack mountains of Donegal in the near distance, the kids were back in adventure film-land, this time "air-fencing" on the ancient ruins, re-enacting a duel Errol Flynn would have been proud of.

As I stood alone amid the cemetery on Devenish surveying the history, the verdant woodland and fields, the shimmering waters of the Erne, I gazed up again towards the sky and recalled how we had swooped and circled over all this beauty 24 hours previously. The McDonald family motto is "Per mare, per terras" ? by land and by sea. After our tour up above with Captain Powell, perhaps it is time we added "by air" to that, too.

? A flight from St Angelo over the Erne with Lakeland Seaplane Tours (028-6634-6861, lakelandseaplanetours.com) costs �173 for half an hour or �115 for 20 minutes; planes seat up to two adults and one child. Details on the forthcoming event on the lough, at the Catalina base in Gublusk, can be found at fermanaghseaplanefestival.com (24-25 September, adults �6, children �4.50. Doubles at the Westville Hotel (028-6632 0333, westvillehotel.co.uk) from �125 B&B; family rooms from �175 (two adults and two children) at weekends