From Irish cottages to American farmhouses: Catherine's documentary detour
A Sunday visit to the Ulster American Folk Park filled her comment section with family emigration stories, before Thursday brought her back home to lamps and a landscape picture.
Dainty Diaries
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The Homes They Left Behind | Old Irish Cottages & American Farmhouses
What happens when a cottage decorator turns documentary maker for a day? Catherine, the Irish creator behind Dainty Diaries, spent Sunday's video at the Ulster American Folk Park, the open-air museum in County Tyrone that follows Irish emigrants across the Atlantic. "The Homes They Left Behind" starts among whitewashed cottages and village streets, goes aboard an emigrant ship and comes out among the stores and farmhouses of early America, comparing how home looked on each side of the ocean.
She admitted in her own pinned comment that this style of video usually does not do well on her channel. It opened with about 35,000 views on its first day and has passed 60,000. The comments read like a family archive: grandparents from Galway and Sligo, an ancestor who sailed from Tyrone in 1796, a family that left in 1835, just ahead of the famine. Several viewers ask for more narrated history like it.
Thursday's regular upload brought her home. "The Little Details That Made My Cottage Feel So Much Better" finishes off the old wallpaper paste left from a recent wallpaper disaster, then moves on to a favorite corner with a landscape picture, new lamps and a few rearranged belongings. It is already the channel's fastest mover, ahead of a September garden makeover about swapping small pots for a larger raised planter after a summer of hosepipe restrictions.
Overall the channel ran slower than usual and held steady at about 364,000 subscribers. Among the DIY and home channels near its size, Dreamy Interior is having by far the biggest week, Artisan Electrics is running above its usual pace, and DIY In Progress and Build and Create Home are quiet.
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What viewers say
Girrrlll....WHEN did you add Documentary Filmmaker to your plethora of other skills!?! Thank you SO much for such a beautiful, heartfelt and informative video today. I live in California and I had Grandparents that came from Ireland. I am now starving for more information on their journey. Again...thank you so so much for sharing this GORGEOUS "Documentary ". You did a wonderful job❤👏👏
@jillianl8085See it on YouTubeOh my gosh- thank you so much for this!!! Our ancestors left in 1835- narrowly missing the famine. We have drawings of their home, have read about them in the newspapers, but have not actually seen how they lived. This has meant so much to us and we are eternally grateful to you for filming it. ❤️
@LizZee-uj7tySee it on YouTubeWe are all here because those who went before us were strong ❤
@Carol-kkIrlSee it on YouTube
7 more comments
I absolutely loved this vlog. Your voice lends well to the narration over the images. I was totally engrossed and learnt so much. I hope you do more like this as well as your usual style. Thank you ❤
@melissab4434See it on YouTubeThis was so interesting. Your narration was beautiful. Thank you ❤
@PamkkwSee it on YouTubeI am not Irish at all, but I l still love the history.
Great video!@JennyT101See it on YouTubeThank you for taking on this trip with you. Being of Irish decent in America, I found it interesting. The people must have been very brave to leave a their families and go on an unknown journey.
@kimberlyburns762See it on YouTubeOh my goodness what an amazing treat to see all this. Thank you so much Cathrtine. Fab video.
@annecarrick8168See it on YouTubeUSA-born here with Irish immigrants from early 1900s—i found this interesting and makes me even more excited to visit Ireland to find long lost family and to see this area in-person. Thank you for sharing!
@ApeGripeSee it on YouTubeFabulous video. I love history and this was a lovely way to learn more about immigration to America from Ireland. ❤. I love my porch - very American ❤
@prudencelay6067See it on YouTube
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The videos drawing views on Dainty Diaries right now
- Channel
- Dainty Diaries
- Subscribers
- 364,000
- Channel views, last 7 days
- 226,609
- Videos published this week
- 2
- Video published
- October 4, 2026
- Video views so far
- 59,774
- Views on its first day
- 35,636
The numbers
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💡 Test your knowledge
The Ulster American Folk Park sits near which Northern Irish town?
The park is just outside Omagh in County Tyrone.