Defining Ireland
What’s Going On: Week Four of Newstalk Breakfast’s Defining Ireland campaign
Covered So Far: The West (Galway, Clare, Mayo), The Northwest (Donegal, Sligo), The Southeast (Waterford, Wexford, Kilkenny & Carlow)
Covering This Week: The Northern Midlands – Cos Cavan, Monaghan, Leitrim & Roscommon
Monaghan’s quiet, undulating landscape is littered with lakes and tiny rounded drumlins resembling bubbles in badly pasted wallpaper. The county’s steely grey lakes attract plenty of anglers, but few others make it here, making it a tranquil place to roam.
The Lake Country of Cavan is paradise for boaters, anglers, walkers, cyclists and artists.
Studded with over 5000 megalithic tombs, ring forts and mounds, and home to a couple of excellent museums, Roscommon is a haven for history buffs. Add to the mix a couple of well-preserved mansions and some wonderful monastic ruins and it’s hard to understand why the county sees so few visitors.
The delights of the unassuming county of Leitrim are a well-kept secret, and it seems the locals like it that way. The untamed landscape and authentic rural charm are genuinely cherished by those who call it home and there’s a reluctance to let anyone or anything spoilt it.
Looking for the places, pubs, attractions, landscapes that define the very best of Ireland -
Ø characteristic hotels and restaurants
Ø historic attractions
Ø iconic landscapes
Ø traditional pubs and bars
Ø festivals & cultural events
email us on definingireland@newstalk.ie or on our facebook page – Defining Ireland on Newstalk
You can follow the progress on:
At the end of the eight weeks we’ll have a shortlist of 25 and we want you the listener to vote on the top ten – which will then be debated by a panel of notable names.
The Southern Midlands – Laois, Offaly, Westmeath & Longford
Characteristic hotels and restaurants
Contenders
Hotels
Castle Leslie
The ancestral home of the Leslie family, Castle Leslie (047-88100; www.castleleslie.com; Glaslough; double €160-480) is a Victorian pile with all the faded grandeur of a well-loved home. The family (who trace their ancestors back to Attila the Hun) acquired the castle in 1665 and its kooky history makes it an entertaining detour for both guests and non-guests.
The castle is 11km northeast of Monaghan town along the R185.
Farnham Estate (049-437 7700; www.farnhamestate.ie; Cavan; double from €130) Set in misty woodlands, this sprawling 16th-century estate is part of the Radisson group. The luxurious rooms blend contemporary style with period features and character, there’s a garden-view restaurant, a stunning indoor/outdoor infinity swimming pool and a spa (also open to non-guests) with a thermal suite and gym. The estate’s 3km west of town on the R198.
Ross Castle (086 824 2200; www.ross-castle.com; Mountnugent; double €110) At Mountnugent, 9km south of Ballyjamesduff, this 1590-built castle was partially destroyed by Cromwell but rebuilt by the Nugent family. Today, it’s an atmospheric B&B that’s not for the fainthearted – the steps get steeper and narrow the higher you climb into its tower, one of its guestrooms has no bathroom door (the bathroom is squished into an alcove), and it’s haunted (by the castle builder’s daughter, who the owners swear leaves lights shimmering and turns taps on and off). But if that doesn’t deter you, it’s an unforgettable experience. Call ahead to confirm your arrival time.
Lough Key House (071-966 2161; www.loughkeyhouse.com; Rockingham; single/double from €50/85) This beautifully restored Georgian country house is a wonderfully atmospheric place to stay, with three guest rooms, each individually decorated with period furniture and tasteful, elegant style. Eggs for breakfast come from the owner’s hens, there are bikes to borrow and, if you arrive by bus, you can get picked up from town. Lough Key House is 5km east of Boyle on the N4.
Fionn’s choice
Castlecoote House
(090-666 3794; www.castlecootehouse.com; Castlecoote; single/double from €99/158) This beautifully restored Georgian mansion has five impossibly romantic rooms with antique furnishings and views over the orchard, ruined castle or river. Expect marble fireplaces, four-poster beds, chandeliers and croquet on the lawn. The house is about 8km southwest of Roscommon. Take the R366 signposted to Fuerty and follow it to Castlecoote. As you go over the bridge into the village, the double gates of Castlecoote House are on your right. Just outside Roscommon Town.
Restaurants
MacNean House & Restaurant (071-985 3022; www.macneanrestaurant.com; Main St; double €140-200; dinner menus €70-85, with paired wines €125, Sunday lunch €39) Book in here before you book your plane ticket – the wait for a table at award-winning TV chef Neven Maguire’s exceptional restaurant can be several months. Maguire grew up in this gorgeous house and the food here is a celebration of local and seasonal produce. Feast on intricate creations like crab ravioli with Thai broth, foie gras with plumbs and cream parfait, caramelised and smoked pork belly; a vegetarian menu is available for €50. Guestrooms, including a brand-new wing, are beautifully decorated and filled with natural light.
Fionn’s choice
Olde Post Inn (047-55555; www.theoldepostinn.com; double €100, 5-course dinner €56). This charming red-brick-and-stone restaurant serves outstanding modern Irish cuisine based on traditional ingredients such as suckling pig, salmon, pigeon and lamb, but there’s also a vegetarian menu, and a bargain early bird menu some days. In the former post master’s residence, the six guestrooms are small but tasteful, with elegant colour schemes. In Cloverhill, just 4km north of Butlersbridge in Co Cavan.
Historic attractions
Inniskeen Patrick Kavanagh was born in the village of Inniskeen, 10km northeast of Carrickmacross. The Patrick Kavanagh Rural and Literary Resource Centre is housed in the old parish church where he was baptised; the staff have a passion for his life and work that is contagious. The centre hosts annual events including a Writers’ Weekend in late July/early August.
Cruachan Ai Visitor Centre (www.rathcroghan.ie; Tulsk; adult/child €5/3; 9am-5pm Mon-Sat) Anyone with an interest in Celtic mythology will be enthralled by the area around the village of Tulsk, which contains 60 ancient national monuments including standing stones, barrows, cairns and fortresses, making it the most important Celtic royal site in Europe.
It’s hard to grasp just how significant the site is, as archaeological digs are still ongoing, but it has already been established that the site is bigger and older than Tara and was at one time a major seat of Irish power. The site is currently being considered for Unesco World heritage status.
Tulsk is 10km west of Strokestown on the N5.
Drumanone Dolmen This astonishing portal dolmen in Lough Key Forest Park in Co Roscommon, one of the largest in Ireland, measures 4.5m by 3.3m and was constructed before 2000 BC. It can be tricky to find: follow Patrick St and then the R294 out of town for 5km, until you pass under a railway arch. A sign indicates the path across the railway line. Take care crossing as trains are frequent.
Fionn’s choice
Strokestown Park House & Famine Museum (www.strokestownpark.ie; admission house, museum & gardens €12, house or museum or gardens €8; 10.30am-5.30pm) At the end of Strokestown’s main avenue, three Gothic arches lead to Strokestown Park House.
The original 12,000-hectare estate was granted by King Charles II to Nicholas Mahon for his support in the English Civil War. Nicholas’ grandson Thomas commissioned Richard Cassels to build him a Palladian mansion in the early 18th century. Over the centuries, the estate decreased in size along with the family’s fortunes. When it was eventually sold in 1979, it had been whittled down to 120 hectares. The estate was bought as a complete lot, so virtually all of its remaining contents are intact.
Admission to the house is by a 45-minute guided tour, taking in a galleried kitchen with state-of-the-art clockwork machinery, and a child’s bedroom complete with 19th-century toys and fun-house mirrors.
The walled garden contains the longest herbaceous border in Ireland and Britain, which blooms in a rainbow of colours in summer.
In direct and deliberate contrast to the splendour of the house and its grounds is the harrowing Strokestown Famine Museum, which sheds light on the devastating 1840s potato blight. There’s a huge amount of information to take in, with long panels of text that require some concentration, but you’ll emerge with an unblinking insight into the starvation of the poor, and the ignorance, callousness and cruelty of those who were in a position to help. Strokestown landlord Major Denis Mahon ruthlessly evicted starving peasants who couldn’t pay their rent, chartering boats to transport them away from Ireland. Almost 600 of these 1000 emigrants died on the overcrowded coffin ships. Perhaps unsurprisingly, Mahon was assassinated by some of his tenants in 1847. The museum also opens visitors’ eyes to present-day famine around the world. Allow at least a half-day visit if your wish to see the house, museum and gardens.
Iconic landscapes
Carrick-on Shannon Gateway to the Shannon, but 4km north of there, in the village of Leitrim, is access to the Erne waterway, which runs into Lough Erne in Co Fermanagh…
Lough Oughter & Killykeen Forest Park
Rod-wielding anglers congregate at Lough Oughter, which splatters across the map like spilt liquid. Coarse fishing aside, the wildlife- rich lough is also idyllic for naturalists, walkers and anyone wanting to vanish into a landscape of shimmering waters and cathedral- like aisles of trees. It’s best accessed via Killykeen Forest Park (049-433 2541; www.coillteout doors.ie), 12km northwest of Cavan, where various nature trails (from 1.5km to 5.8km) lead you through the woods and along the shore. Keep an eye out for stoats, badgers, foxes, grey squirrels and hedgehogs, as well as some amazing birdlife.
Many of the low overgrown islands in the lake were crannogs (fortified, artificial islands). The most spectacular is home to Clough Oughter Castle, a 13th-century circular tower perched on a tiny speck of land. It was used as a lonely prison, then as a stronghold by rebel leader Owen Roe O’Neill, who was (probably) poisoned there in 1649, before it was destroyed by Cromwell’s army in 1653. Although the castle lies out of reach over the water, it’s worth getting near for the view: go on foot via the forest trails, or get a closer look by car by turning left out of the Killykeen park exit and following the narrow road running north from the village of Garthrattan.
The Cavan Way
The highlight for many walkers in the region is the Cavan Way, a 26km trail between the hamlets of Blacklion and Dowra through the Cuilcagh Mountains. Heading south from Blacklion, it takes you through an area known locally as the Burren, and its ancient burial site Magh Sleacht, which is dotted with prehistoric monuments – court cairns, ring forts and tombs – and was one of the last strongholds of Druidism. It continues past the Shannon Pot, the source of Ireland’s longest river, then by road to Dowra, passing over the Black Pigs Dyke, an ancient fortification that once divided Ireland in two.
From Blacklion it’s mainly hill walking; from Shannon Pot to Dowra it’s mainly road. The highest point on the walk is Giant’s Grave (260m). You’ll need OS map No 26 and the Cavan Way map guide. Maps are on display in Blacklion and Dowra. Detailed route information (including downloadable PDF maps) is available online at www.cavantourism.com. The route can be boggy, so take spare socks!
Cuilcagh Mountain Park
The border between the Republic and Northern Ireland runs along the ridge of Cuilcagh Mountain, the distinctive table-top summit of Cuilcagh Mountain Park, the world’s first cross-border Geopark. Its lower slopes are important protected peatland habitats, while the upper slopes have dramatic sweeping cliffs. The visitor centre and the park’s biggest attraction, the Marble Arch Caves, lie a short hop over the border from Blacklion, in County Fermanagh.
Roscommon
Lough Key Forest Park (www.loughkey.ie; forest admission free, parking €4; 10am-6pm Apr-Aug, 10am-5pm Fri-Sun Sep-Mar) Sprinkled with small islands, Lough Key Forest Park has long been popular for its picturesque ruins, including a 12th-century abbey on tiny Trinity Island and a 19th-century castle on Castle Island. It’s also a time-honoured favourite with families for its wishing chair, bog gardens, fairy bridge and viewing tower. There are plenty of marked walking trails through the park.
The 350-hectare park was once part of the Rockingham estate, owned by the King family from the 17th century until 1957. Rockingham House, designed by John Nash, was destroyed by a fire in the same year; all that remains are some stables, outbuildings and eerie tunnels leading to the lake – built to hide the servants from view.
The park recently received a boost with the addition of a visitor centre, and the Lough Key Experience (adult/child €7.50/5), incorporating a panoramic, 250m-long treetop canopy walk, which rises 7m above the woodland floor and offers superb lake views. Other attractions include the Boda Borg Challenge (€13, min 3 people) – a series of rooms filled with activities and puzzles (great for sudden bursts of rain); and an outdoor adventure playground (adult/child free/€5).
In July and August, Lough Key Boats (www.loughkeyboats.com) provides waterskiing lessons, hourly commentated boat trips, rowing-boat hire and fishing advice (record-breaking pike have been caught here).
Traditional pubs and bars
MJ Henry (Cootehall, County Roscommon) An unadulterated grocery store-cum-pub, Henry’s, off the N4 between Boyle and Carrick-on-Shannon, is full of character and little changed since the ’70s.
Coffeey’s (Lecarrow, County Roscommon) The centre of the village community and renowned for its craic, Coffeey’s on the N61 between Roscommon and Athlone, is all about the people.
Anderson’s Thatch Pub (www.andersonspub.com; Elphin Rd, Carrick-on-Shannon Co Leitrim) This traditional thatched pub is worth a trip for its live music sessions (Wednesday, Friday and Saturday), old world atmosphere and country charm. Take the R368 south from town for about 4km.
Festivals & cultural events
Boyle Arts Festival If you’re here at the end of July, you can catch the lively Boyle Arts Festival (www.boylearts.com), which features music, theatre, storytelling and contemporary Irish art exhibitions.
Monaghan Town
Feile Oriel (www.feileoriel.com; late Apr/early May) Traditional music festival over the May bank holiday weekend.
Harvest Blues Festival (www.harvestblues.com; [h]early Sep) Fabulous blues festival featuring local and international acts.
Fionn’s Choice
Clones upholds its literary traditions when heavyweight poets and authors discuss or read their work at the ‘no-brow’ Flat Lake Literary and Arts Festival (www.theflatlakefestival.com; early Jun), which combines high art with popular culture. Top-notch comedy, film, theatre and an art auction also feature in the impressive line-up. Although at the moment there’s a dispute over its continuing presence.
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