Loved it! Arrived at 4pm Sunday and they closed at 5, but it's a great museum with free admission…read more The grounds are lovely.

Set in the grounds of Turlough Park, this is a bright modern museum. There is no charge to visit…read morebut they do appreciate a five euro donation which in my opinion was well worth it. Covering three floors, there is a vast selection of items on display covering all aspects of country life, crafts, living, clothing, tools etc. it is set out well with plenty of information. There is also a video presentation. We really enjoyed our visit to the museum but the house itself was a bit of a disappointment. Only a few rooms are open to the public. So my advise is come for the museum, not the house.

My sister and I were driving up to Silgo and decided to take a scenic drive around the lake on our…read moreway up. We were touristing, and I was delighted when we happened upon this tourist spot. It's really cool. They offer tours or just free roaming exploration of the grounds. We opted to just walk around and look at everything. It was insanely beautiful, like just about everything else in Ireland. Inside is set up like a museum with informative little notes about history on things. The grounds consist of an courtyard and then some fields just off the lake. After we spent some time just looking at everything, we stopped in the gift shop on our way out. I have to say they had the most interesting selection of Ireland post cards and magnet type things that I saw anywhere in the country. I would definitely make sure to come back and I tell anyone I know heading to the West to check it out. It's not an all day type thing but you can definitely make an afternoon of it with the woods just across the lake that are good for a bit of hiking.

An artistic asset to Sligo, and the North-West! There's always something going on here - informal…read moremusic afternoons, to weekend music and comedy gigs, film screenings from the Sligo Film Society to the semi-regular Sligo Flea Market. The Niland Collection (with a selection of Sligo's most famous artistic son - Jack B Yeats paintings) is now on permanent display, coupled with regular contemporary art exhibitions. The beautiful old Model school building hosts two exhibition spaces, an education room for family and children events, 'Room' - a space for artists in residence to curate smaller exhibitions, a large cinema/gig space, and sometimes the venue can be hired privately for weddings. The bright and airy atrium is a lovely place to meet and catch up with friends. During the summer there are regular tours of the gallery space, and the Niland collection.

From the owner: The Model, home of the Niland Collection is one of Ireland's leading contemporary arts centre. It…read moreis due to reopen in Spring 2010 after an extensive redevelopment phase. The extension will provide new, exemplary, artist studios, a purpose-built performance space and a new entrance from a new civic plaza. The extension will also allow for new gallery to form a complete Gallery circuit for the visitor, a new reception are and bookstore and a new destination restaurant. The award winning building is home to the impressive Niland Collection, featuring works by John and Jack B. Yeats, Estella Solomons, Paul Henry and Louis Le Broquy among others.

In the west of Ireland it rains - a lot, really, an awful lot, so it is vitally important for those…read morewho live there and indeed those of us visiting that there are distractions of some form or another least we all team up in a bored, wet and un-tanned rage and go on some sort of killing spree (probably drowning the victims). One such distraction is the rather unpromising sounding museum of country life, which as it turns out is a very nice wee place to wander around and kill a few hours. There are samples of clothing worn by the Irish way back when, a few temp exhibits like the Moylough Belt (8th Century belyt-thingy) and when we were there a temp exhibition (until spring 2010!) called Straw, Hay and Rushes where you get to see the unbelievable vast array of things we used to use straw and hay for! - really, everything from mattresses (which you get to try out) to harnesses (which you don't) We didn't get to see much of the outside exhibits because , guess what, it was blinking raining, but the indoors bit was enough to keep us going for a couple of hours. There is no admission fee which is nice, the café is OK but not noteworthy!

We drove to the National Museum of County Life last Monday.Unfortunatly the museum was closed but…read morethe grounds were still open to the public. There are lovely walks around the grounds through the formal gardens and the kitchen gardens. There is a restored Victorian Glasshouse in the grounds overlooking Turlough House and the beautiful tulip borders which were in bloom whilst I was there. There is also a small cottage which has recently been built to show how traditional cottages were constructed. Walked along the river and continued up to the round tower on the hill. I have no doubt this would be a great place to spend a day,when the museum is open.will be back to visit when it opens.

A MUST SEE! The Jackie Clarke Collection is an absolute hidden gem in Ballina. A perfect way to…read morespend your afternoon. I could not recommend it higher! They put a lot of thought into this collection and it is amazing to see the historical significance in each letter, picture, map, etc. they hold in this exclusive collection. It is interesting for tourists to see the history of Ireland unfold in each room of the collection. It is also of interest to the locals with the collection of maps which show how the county boarders have changed overtime. It is well worth the trip to beautiful town of Ballina to check it out. And if this collection isn't already enough to grab your attention, the collection is actually hosted in an old bank! The bank's old vault is now home to one of the rare original copies of the Proclimation of the Irish Republic printed before the 1916 rising. The good news is you don't need to know much Irish history to enjoy The Jackie Clarke Collection.

Free (donations appreciated) and entertaining, the Galway City Museum has more than just history of…read morethe city of Galway. It was interesting to learn about shipwrecks and seabed mapping, some human biology and the history of medical devices, and really, what Irish museum would be complete without a history of the Irish Free State and the Troubles. Objects on display are tiny and massive, including the oldest Claddagh ring in existence (dating from circa 1700!) and a sailboat. The museum has stairs and a lift, making it fully handicapped accessible. There are a number of exhibits that are interactive and can be touched. Expect at least an hour to appreciate this museum, two if you're a reader. [Review 1948 of 2024 - 130 in Republic of Ireland - 22970 overall]

Free admission! We visited around 11am on a very rainy day and the museum was quite busy. It is…read more a small museum but does have some interesting displays. There is a lot of reading involved, being a busy day it was hard to get close to the reading materials. The aisles were quite crowded. We enjoyed the boating and fishing displays. They also have a section on ancient instruments.

Excellent exhibits. A must visit for all ages. Cafeteria…read morelunch is also good, though lines could be a little long.

We enjoyed a really fantastic day together here at the folk park, met up with another family of 4,…read moreso we had a big gang of 8 walking together through the park, in pouring rain, and it was a perfect day! We had children ages 6-15 and each one thought it was fascinating, the adults, too. It went on a bit too long for me- I was so surprised how many stops there were on the tour- and I ran out of stream! So come well-rested and prepared with good walking shoes and an umbrella, if needed. Cute gift shop. Very nice café. Loved it! Highly

It's been so long since we were here last that we'd forgotten almost all of it. Maybe it's just a…read moreseries of senior moments but I'll tell you what it's superb and a great way to spend 3 or more hours. There's no down side to this place. This is a superb living park where you walk through 18th & 19th century thatched cottages, a blacksmiths forge, a school house, a Roman Catholic Church, a Meeting House, a bank, general stores, barns, log cabins, you'll board a ship (to go from Ireland to America) meet the captain and you'll meet other delightful costumed characters who demonstrate traditional crafts, tell real stories. They are very likely to share good food with you. We had pumpkin pie, a molasses based shoo fly pie, apple pie, fruit cake and other goodies. Many of the buildings were dismantled from their original places in Ireland & America and re-built here. The influential Mellon family feature (banking, oil, steel and shares in HJ Heinz & General Motors) as does the Campbell family. Both families are originally from the area so further adding to the authenticity of the park. There are 44 separate outdoor places to go visit in addition to the exhibitions inside and notably they have a very good Titanic exhibition. So a dry day is essential or at least a dry half day. There's also a very good cafe with tasty food rather than the rubbish a lot of places serve up these days. In fact if I was close by I'd go here to eat without going into the folk park.