This 15th-century castle is the mecca of first-time visitors to Ireland, who hope to win the gift of eloquence by kissing the Blarney Stone. The magnificent keep, with Walls 85ft high and 12ft thick at the base, was built in 1446 by Cormac MacCarthy, and...
Three generations of our family (8 of us) went on the trip of a lifetime ...
High St, which stretches from George IV Bridge down to the Netherbow at St Mary’s St, is the heart and soul of the Old Town, home to the city’s main church, the Law Courts, the city council and - until 1707 - the Scottish parliament....
The Rose of Tralee International Festival, which any woman With even remote Irish connections may enter in the hope of becoming the ‘Rose of Tralee’, has made the chief town of Kerry famous, The event is accompanied by a week of pageantry, music and merrymaking....
The Scottish National Trust’s flagship property, magnificent Culzean is one of the most impressive of Scotland’s great stately homes. The entrance to Culzean is a converted viaduct, and on approach the Castle appears like a mirage, floating into view. Designed by Robert Adam, who was...
Looking north across the Boyne, Slane is a pretty sight. The main road sweeps down beside a ruined church to a long, narrow bridge, and beyond that, on a hillside, rises the well-planned 18th-century village. The octagonal focal point where the roads meet at its...
Opposite the small, scattered village of Sandwick is the Isle of Mousa, an RSPB reserve. The impressive double-walled Mousa Broch (13m) stands on the island - this well-preserved broch was built from local sandstone between 100 BC and AD 100 and features in two Viking...
A village in the vale of the River Suck, Clonfert became known for the monastery founded on this site by Brendan the Navigator in AD 563. Clonfert monastery was a famous centre of learning, but was destroyed five times between its foundation and the 12th...
Photogenically sited at the entrance to Loch Duich, near Dornie village, Eilean Danan Castle is one of Scotland’s most evocative castles, and must be represented in millions of photo albums. It’s on an offshore islet, magically linked to the mainland by an elegant, stone-arched bridge....
This former monastery is one of Ireland’s best-known and oldest religious sites, with the ruins of two churches, a Round Tower, a pre-Gothic sundial, a decorated grave slab and three High Crosses all packed into a cemetery. Founded in the 6th century by St Buite,...