Fun for Kids

This vast enclosed park in Dublin houses a Zoo, residences for the president of Ireland and the US ambassador as well as a herd of wild deer.

There are wide open green spaces, secluded glens, grounds for cricket, polo and other sports and a pretty good restaurant in the visitor centre. It’s a wonderful place to explore.

December 5, 2010 to December 20, 2010.
Farmleigh, an estate within Dublin’s Phoenix Park, is the venue for this annual programme of Christmas events aimed at all ages, but with a specially good range of events for kids.

There are food markets and carol singers, horse & carriage rides and puppet shows, art exhibitions and concerts, most free to enter and all with a Christmassy theme.

One of the oldest lighthouses in the world, the light from Hook Head has been shining its beacon more or less continuously for over 800 years.

Since then its gone from being a simple fire lit by a monk, through being oil and coal powered to today’s automated electric light.

Charles Fort is a massive structure, with walls up to 6m thick and five defensive bastions around its perimeter. Its star shape provided better defenses than earlier round forts, and was a common style of fort throughout Europe and beyond.

Although much of it is in poor enough condition, battered by generations of battles, it is one of the best remaining examples of a star-shaped fort in Europe.

This small garden is managed and staffed by the residents of Camphill, a movement composed of individuals, many with special needs, who live together in a mutually supportive environment.

Its a low key but lovely place, with an excellent restuarant and a small garden centre, also run by Camphill, alongside.

The history of early Ireland is brought vividly to life here, through reconstructed buildings and re-enactments of the life and work of Irish people in the distant past.

Although there are no original historic structures here, the reconstructions are historically accurate and were made using the methods of the time, so they are a close as it gets.

Marble Arch caves are Ireland largest caves, both in terms of the extent and the sheer hugeness of some of the internal spaces.

The caves have been open to the public since 1985, though first discovered in 1895, and are explored by guided tours which are partly on boats navigating subterranean rivers.

Located on the shore of the remote and lovely Killary Fjord, this busy and popular adventure centre offers, among other things, kayaking, wind surfing, high ropes, a climbing tower, Hobie cat sailing, gorge Walking, a zip wire and, in Winter, snow boarding.

There are also summer camps available for kids.

A particular good example of Ireland Norman castles, Cahir Castle has been well restored and visitors, especially younger ones, will enjoy exploring its keeps, towers and battlements.

It has seen many battles in its time and recently achieved minor Hollywood stardom as one of the locations used for the movie Braveheart.

It’s one of the great tragedies of Ireland that a once extensive local railway network was allowed to disappear.

Some are being restored by bands of enthusiasts, and this is one of the best, a restored narrow gauge railway on which old locomotives run, taking passengers on trips down memory lane, via the local countryside.