Providing you are tolerant of tour buses and high season crowds, this dramatically located Abbey offers a surprising range of things to see: a brief stroll from the abbey along the wooded shore leads to the Gothic church, a fascinating miniature replica of Norwich cathedral, for example.
Then there’s a fine craft shop in a neat modern building beside the car park and also a daytime self-service restaurant, where everything is made on the premises, including traditional meals like beef & Guinness casserole and Irish stew.
Big bowls of the nuns’ home-made jams are set up at the till, for visitors to help themselves - beside them are neatly labelled jars to buy and take home. A short distance away, the nuns also run a farm and a restored walled garden, which supplies produce to the Garden Tea House.
Seats 200 (outdoors, 60). Meals daily 9.30-5pm; L 12.30-2.30pm; set L €20. Children welcome (high chair, baby changing facilities). Closed Christmas week. (The Garden Tea House, in the restored walled garden, is open Easter-Hallowe'en, 10.30-5.) Amex, MasterCard, Visa, Laser.
