Heritage Card

Connemara is a place of mountains, lakes and spectacular views famed for the quality of the light. It’s also often overrun with tourists which takes a little from its serenity.

However it is definitely an area worth exploring, and this itinerary moves you quickly through the really busy areas and suggests some lesser known detours.

The heritage card gives access to dozens of historic sites, scenic areas, parks and gardens in Ireland for a real bargain price.

Even if you are spending less a week in Ireland you will probably get enough value from this card to justify its price – any longer than that and it’s a complete certainty

This is a complete listing of the sites to which the Hertiage Card gives admission in Ireland, ordered by their location, since this is the way they are most likely to be visited.

An architectural gem, this folly was built as a garden pavilion for James Caulfield, the 1st Earl of Charlemont, a wealthy landowner with a huge interest in art.

The design is based on classical Greek architecture for which the young earl acquired a taste during visits to Italy and Greece while on his ‘Grand Tour’ of Europe. It is not now, and never was, a gambling casino!

Once a vast ecclesiastical city, the monastic settlements of Clonmacnoise were among the most important in Europe, and left us a rich heritage of archtecture, art and learning.

Its strategic location on the Shannon, dividing the east and west of Ireland, was a perfect place for such a center of learning, but also made it a target warring Irish tribes and later on invaders, and eventually led to its downfall.

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 is a domestic scale castle, typical of the type a wealthy family would have lived in in Norman Ireland. In this case it was the home of the DeBarry family, who came to Ireland via Wales in 1185 and were given large tracts of land in East Cork by King John of England.

The castle was not just a home, it was designed too for easy defense, with almost impenetrable walls and good views of all approaches.

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.

Emo Court is a Gandon designed Georgian house at the centre of a huge landscaped estate of gardens, walks and grand vistas.

There is an arboretu with some splendid specimen trees and it’s a wonderful place for kid’s who are feeling a bit cooped up in the car to get out and race around in a safe and open place.

Although now virtually in ruins Trim Castle is an excellent example of an early Norman defensive castle, with a thick outer curtain wall protecting the central keep.

It is beautifully situated along the banks of the Boyne, and a great favourite with photographers – it takes varying light in an interesting way and is all round photogenic!