When you arrive at Ard Mhuire, a pretty B&B overlooking the harbour on Inis Oirr, with three young tearaways, it is a comfort to learn that Brendan Behan once stayed there for six months without being barred.

Behan was one of a long line of artists attracted to the Irish-speaking Aran Islands, off the west coast of Ireland, by the rich history, primitive way of life and austere beauty, but for him the relaxed licensing laws may have been the clincher.

Many tourists misguidedly treat the islands as a day-trip, and visit only Inis Mór, literally the big island, which even a century ago the playwright J.M.Synge, the islands' most famous chronicler, found too commercialised. He swiftly decamped to Inishmaan, which inspired The Playboy of the Western World and Riders to the Sea.

Synge had to do his island-hopping by currach, a precarious canoe-like craft made of tarred canvas that can still be seen upturned on the shore.

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Today ferry companies from Doolin, in Co Clare, and Rossaveal, in Connemara, both an hour's drive or bus trip from Galway City, make island-hopping easy and affordable at €40 for the four legs.

The best way to explore the islands is by bike. If you have children or are into kitsch, the pony and (tourist) trap can be fun. A three-hour tour can be haggled down from €80 to €40.

If you're just plain lazy, or it's lashing down, there are minibus tours, but whatever your mode of transport make sure you bring plenty of cash - the islands have only one ATM between them and few places accept credit cards.

What were we thinking, dragging three kids to three islands that have no rollercoaster (though the 45-minute sea crossing can be a white-knuckle ride), fast-food joints (OK, there is Supermacs, a sort of O'McDonald's) or swimming pool (apart from the Wormhole, a natural basin at the foot of a cliff that is 70ft at the deep end)?

In summer, it's a no-brainer. The islands have fantastic beaches, the pubs are child-friendly, and Inis Oirr has a well-equipped playground in a lovely sandy hollow near the pier. But out of season? Well, the weather was kind, so we walked, cycled, took a pony and trap and clambered over countless ruins.

The islands have ancient, tumbledown churches, forts, castles and holy wells, but their unique beauty lies in the 1,000 miles of dry-stone walls, described by the writer Tim Robinson as “one of the most finely carved by nature, closely structured by labour and minutely commented on by tradition”.

On Inis Mór, we stayed in Kilmurvey House, once home to the Ferocious O'Flahertys, a notoriously rapacious clan. Happily, our landlady was not related. A 10th-century chapel stands in the back garden and Dún Aengus, one of Ireland's most majestic sites, is a 15-minute walk away.

The Giant's Causeway is impressive, but I wouldn't call it awesome - the worst thing that will happen to you there is a sprained ankle or stepping in a hexagonal puddle. Dún Aengus is awesome - a 4,000-year-old, wind-whipped, semicircular clifftop fortress protected by chevaux-de- frise, sharp stones stood on end as if the earth were baring its teeth.

But once inside its defences it is like a façade - there is no back wall, just a sheer 200ft drop. The view is stunning, the Atlantic crashing against the cliffs, patchwork fields stretching into the distance under a huge, pure blue sky, cows grazing obliviously a few feet from oblivion.

This place is the wild west of Europe, the edge of the continent that feels like the end of the world, so sparsely populated (1,300 in total) that the locals neither mind nor notice visitors making an adventure playground of their home.

Given the islands' remoteness, we feared that Black Forest gâteau and prawn cocktail might be just distant rumours, but the islands are over-represented in Irish good food guides.

Inis Meáin is the least visited of the islands - and the least spoilt. Synge himself is now part of its appeal. You can meditate in Cathaoir Synge, or Synge's Chair, a stone shelter on a clifftop overlooking Inis Mór, though it is so exposed that you wonder how the writer managed to hold on to his thoughts, never mind his papers, and come up with anything more profound than “very windy today”.

Blending seamlessly into the landscape yet unmistakably modern, Inis Meain Bialann & Seamrai So is an acclaimed restaurant with three attached suites designed by one of the leading architects in Ireland, the uncle of the chef, Ruairi de Blacam, who runs it with his wife, Marie-Thérèse.

The best moments of the holiday, though, without a doubt, were freewheeling carefree down car-free, winding lanes on Inis Oirr, the sun in my face and glinting off the Atlantic, my three-year-daughter in the bicycle's pillion at my back, the Cliffs of Moher in shadow in the distance. But, be warned, the sights that were a second on the eyes downhill are minutes on the thighs on the way back.

On my last day, I bought an Aran sweater in the Aran Sweater Market and Museum, where I learnt that the religious-inspired patterns could act as protective talismans but were also used to identify fishermen's bodies when they were washed up. So I stuck with the lifejacket just in case.

Need to know

Getting there Aer Arann (0870 8767676, www.aerarann.ie) flies to Galway from five UK airports from £112 return.

Island travel Aran Island Ferries (www.aranislandferries.com) charges €32 return, including shuttle from Galway City to the pier. Doolin Ferries, 00 353 65 707 4455, www.doolinferries.com) from €30 return.

Ard Mhuire (00 353 99 75005, www.ardmhuire.com) has B&B for €35pp.

Kilmurvey House (00 353 99 61218, www.kilmurvey house.com) offers B&B from €45pp; dinner €30.

Further information Inis Mór Tourist Information (00 353 99 61263, www. discoverireland.ie/west); Tourism Ireland (0800 0397000, www.discover ireland.com).

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