Well known to viewers of BBC2’s Big Bread Experiment series, Patrick Ryan is a thoughtful high achiever and this talented lawyer-turned-chef-and-baker was just the man to bring an imaginative and highly appropriate business venture to the quiet l ... more...
Launched at the Culturetech Craft Beer Festival in 2014, the Walled City Brewery is an ambitious new venture and the first craft brewery in the city centre for over 100 years.
Handsomely located in the old military pay office on Ebrington Square ... more...
Green Man Wines is one of the best examples of a new breed of hybrid wine-bar-shops to develop around Ireland and its capital city in particular.
Owner David Gallagher is one of the nicest people you could meet in Ireland’s world of wine. His ... more...
There is a community feel to the charming Little Bird Café. It is full of locals, most of them quietly nodding to the tables next to them as they sit down with a book, or with a friend for a catch up over a rice bowl, that week’s special ( ... more...
Edmund and Eunice Power’s fine house in Dungarvan had a well-earned reputation as one of the area's best B&Bs, but Eunice is an enthusiastic professional cook and has also run a successful outside catering company since 2001s - and this, tog ... more...
Greenacres started off, predictably enough, as a greengrocers – but it is now part of a complex that includes a wine shop, deli and an impressive modern art gallery.
It’s heaven for any wine buff, with nearly 2,500 thousand bottles in the ... more...
Very conveniently situated just outside Dublin, between Bray and Greystones, Killruddery has been home to the Brabazon Family (the Earls of Meath) since 1618. The estate was designed on a large scale with a view to impressing visitors and, these days, ... more...
With foraging all the rage, urbanites hankering after the country life will love these eco trails run by Former Green Party Minister, Mary White, and her husband Robert.
Aimed at all age groups, the 2 hour walks offer a unique rural experience in th ... more...
When David Llewellyn started out 10 years ago, he was just growing apples and selling them. Then like many other farmers, he started looking for ways to add value to his crop. The first product he developed was apple juice, then in a logical next step, ... more...
In 2015 Dervla James, her husband Johny Conlon and their daughter Edith moved back from Dublin to Dervla's home town, to set up a lovely café and bakery with views of Easkey Castle and the Atlantic Ocean.
It was something of a triumphal march, ... more...
With a rich historical and maritime legacy, East Cork has a truly unique variety of attractions to offer the visitor.
It is a haven for family holidays with a huge range of activities and attractions to keep the whole family entertained for hours.
In this extensive county, the towns and villages have their own distinctive character. In West Cork, their spirit is preserved in the vigour of the landscape with the handsome coastline where the light of the famous Fastnet Rock swings across tumbling ocean and spray-tossed headland. The county is a repository of the good things of life, a treasure chest of the finest farm produce, and the very best of seafood, brought to market by skilled specialists.
The town of Killarney is where the Ring of Kerry begins and ends for many, among the lakes and mountains where they are re-establishing the enormous white-tailed sea eagle, has long been a magnet for visitors. Across the purple mountains from Killarney, the lovely little town of Kenmare in South Kerry is both a gourmet focus, and another excellent touring centre. As one of the prettiest places in Ireland, Kenmare puts the emphasis on civic pride.
That Galway Bay coastline in Co. Clare is where The Burren, the fantastical North Clare moonscape of limestone which is home to so much unexpectedly exotic flora, comes plunging spectacularly towards the sea around the attractive village of Ballyvaughan.
Connemara, the Land of the Sea, where earth, rock and ocean intermix in one of Ireland's most extraordinary landscapes, and is now as ever a place of angling renown - you're very quickly into the high ground and moorland which sweep up to the Twelve Bens and other splendid peaks, wonderful mountains which enthusiasts would claim as the most beautiful in all Ireland. Beyond, to the south, the Aran Islands are a place apart.
Rivers often divide one county from another, but Fermanagh is divided - or linked if you prefer - throughout its length by the handsome waters of the River Erne, both river and lake. Southeast of the historic county town of Enniskillen, Upper Lough Erne is a maze of small waterways meandering their way into Fermanagh from the Erne'e source in County Cavan.
Co Cavan shares the 667 m peak of Cuilcagh with neighbouring Fermanagh. No ordinary mountain, this - it has underground streams which eventually become the headwaters of the lordly River Shannon, Ireland's longest river that passes south through many counties before exiting at the mighty estuary in Limerick. A magnet for tourism now with boating, fishing, cycling and walking-a-plenty.
Between the sheltered bays at the foot of the Glens of Antrim, the sea cliffs of the headlands soar with remarkable rock formations which, on the North Coast, provide the setting for the Carrick-a-Rede rope bridge and the Giant's Causeway.
A selective companion guide to our famous broad-based online collection, the ‘glovebox bible’ includes a uniquely diverse range of Ireland's greatest places to ...