Lodged snugly in a lush valley alongside the M90, Perth’s biggest drawcard is historical Scone Palace, but the city’s grand Georgian buildings by the banks of the River Tay possess their own splendour. This market town was once a weaving, dyeing and glove-making centre and...
Beautifully situated on the River Lee, Cork City is after Dublin and Belfast, the 3rd city of Ireland with long established Choral, Film and Jazz Festivals. The rich farmland of Cork (the largest of the 32 counties) is separated by the Ballyhoura, Galty and the...
The cliffs form a sheer precipice, 8km long; one of the most impressive stretches of coast in the west of Ireland. During the nesting season a remarkable variety of seabirds nest here, among them guillemots, razor-bills, puffins, kittiwakes and shags. The best view is enjoyed...
The castle was probably built in 1176 by Maurice Fitzgerald, a companion of Strongbow. It remained a Fitzgerald stronghold until 1535, when the rebel Lord Thomas Fitzgerald (known as ‘Silken Thomas’ from the silk fringes worn on the helmets of his retainers) was betrayed to...
An ancient coach road, leading due west from the cathedral hill, crosses the Callan by a charming old bridge, beyond which is St Patrick’s Well (a gnarled thorn bush is decked with votive offerings left by present-day pilgrims). Navan Fort (Emain, Macha) rises further on...
Tipperary, made famous by the World War I marching song, and taking its name from the nearby source of the River Ara, is a manufacturing and dairying centre. There are hardly any remains of antiquity except a gateway of a 13th century Augustinian Priory. A...
Some of the regions finest attractions lie in the gentle hills and lush valleys of Dumfries and Galloway. Ideal for families, there is plenty on offer for the kids. Galloway Forest is a highlight with its sublime, mountain biking and walking trails, red deer, kites...
The northern and eastern slopes of the Grampian Mountains are draped with a long broad, green mantle of fertile lowlands, fringed with forests and hemmed around with long, sandy beaches and rugged, bird-haunted cliffs, bejewelled here and there with picturesque little fishing villages. Many visitors pass...
Roscommon is an old wool-town, deriving its name (Coman’s wood) from a monastery founded here by St. Coman in 746. The most conspicuous building is the huge Roscommon Castle, immediately north of the town, to the left of the road. It was erected by Sir Robert...
The earliest known human settlement of Ireland occurred in the Mesolithic 8000BC, when tribes from Europe crossed to Ireland by boat from Scotland, or possibly across a land-bridge from Britain or the Isle of Man, to the east coast of Ireland. Hunter-gatherer habitation sites and...