As Dolmens go, this is a pretty good one!…read more I might have been overawed a bit because the setting was so lovely - it was surrounded by a field of bright yellow rapeseed flowers. With the sun out and the sky blue, it was a sight to behold. And it was the first proper summers day in about two months! There is a handy purpose made carpark on the side of the road and there is a proper path to lead you to the Dolmen. If you do happen to be in Carlow, take a look. It's not too far out the Hacketstown Road.

this dolmen is about 4000 years old and is holding up well. to get to it you walk up a little…read morefenced path and then you will find the dolmen in a clearing in the middle of a field. surrounded by fields its really peaceful and a bit of history on your doorstep. they have a big sign full of information for the tourist or for the interested. beneath the dolmen apparently has never been excavated so it may be interesting to wonder what is down there among the rocks and soil. the dolmen is made up of two stones which are the entrance to a tomb, possibly the buriel place of many people. its amazing to wonder how they managed to get such large stones in place and to remain that way for so long.

We had a wonderful visit of lovely Cashel. The people are delightful and there are lots of shops to…read morevisit. I'd visit again.

Hmmm... not sure you can actually call this place a village - there are too many main roads parting…read moreit at various angles but none the less the place manages to maintain a nice atmosphere and it really is down to the shops and pubs and (most noteworthy of all) the restaurants. There are really very few places within the realm of Dublin where you will find such a large and varied collection of eateries and indeed a more noteworthy one - overall the quality offered is spectacular and I really think it is to do with a collective effort to bring trade to the area and also I guess an element of competition. The area is clean and well kept and with a dart station close by and several bus routes in and out it really is an ideal spot for a night out (without the kids if you can help it!). Yeaah...I'm a fan!

Come here to dine, walk or enjoy. its Dublin best kept secret.read more

What do you know about Dundrum? There is a shoppoing centre, the luas goes there,it has a great…read morecinema....but did you know it has a castle? OOOOooohhh now there is a nice little fact about the place for ya! the first castle was built in 1169 as part of an outer ring around dublin city and then the proper castle arrived in 1590, I cant even imagine back that far! Where is it you ask? well you know the bridge over the Dundrum by pass? well going across the bridge heading towards Ballinteer you will see some apartments with cedar wood sides on your right and just behind them is where the castle is, since those apartments were built you have not been able to get into the ruins of the castle but you can see it through a big fence. I think its important that people realise Dundrum is not some new area cause there is a shopping centre there now, its been around longer than any of us can imagine! wonder could any of those people back in 1169 could imagine what would be in Dundrum in the futuristic 2009!

Bad experience. I asked people working in this magazine to send me a copy of a magazine that I…read moremissed to buy, I paid for it 12.5 euros. After one week I rang to the office of Ireland's Own to find out if the magazine was sent or not. A woman on the phone said that it was sent. 2 weeks later after my payment I still didn't get the magazine. I don't want to ring them and to hear a lie again. Maybe after my email they will send me the magazine at last.

If your looking for a bit of Irish nostalgia you will find it here for sure! My dad gets this from…read moretime to time but you are guaranteed that a copy of Ireland's own will be at home around Christmas! guess how long this magazine has been in print.....go on....since 1902! how mad is that?? that's older than Irish independence! I looked up the magazine just there ( to find out the correct date for all you lucky people who read my reviews ) and i found another interesting fact, Ireland's Own was designed to offer "wholesome Irish Catholic fare" to challenge the appearance of British newspapers in Ireland, how typically Irish is that? Brilliant! Anyway, what can you find in it these days? well I'd say that it is pretty much the same as what you found in it in the early nineteen hundreds! puzzles, recipes, interesting stories, song lyrics, personal ads, prayers and a kids section are all regular features of this magazine! I'm kinda looking forward to going home now to get my annual read of this magazine in!

The Grove Wildlife Sanctuary is essentially a plot, maybe an acre or so, at the top of Morehampton…read moreRd on the N11. It was donated to An Taisce by Kathleen Goodfellow , and what a good fellow to separate with this property, in 1979. The whole thing has the feel of the Miss Havishams about it and the aesthetic to boot. It's the type of place that everyone local is aware of but no one has any solid information about. Having employed my journalistic expertise I have unearthed that Miss Goodfellow, as she is titled by An Taisce, wanted the property to be kept as a nesting site for birds and for it to be maintained by An Taisce I suppose, well, forever. An Taisce take out cursory and unobtrusive maintenance on the site every once in a while making sure not to disturb the birdie num-nums. Apparently the property is impossible to build on because the Swan River runs underground nearby I have never seen this river above ground or even heard of it before for that matter but I'll take their word for it. At any rate the birdies are happy, they already have a lot of green spaces around what with Herbert Park and all, but I won't be begrudging them for it. This type of small, sealed green space in urban area seems like a resoundingly positive idea with all that nasty global warming going about.

My buddies and I heard about this place after visiting the Waterford Crystal Factory and decided to…read morecheck it out for ourselves. It was billed as a Seaside attraction to teach both tourists and natives alike what it was like to be a Celt in early Ireland. Our tour started out well, as we were led into a room where a video presentation ensued that told of old Irish folklore and customs. As a descendant of Ireland myself, I've never heard a lot of what we were being taught and so, I found it most interesting. After this portion of our tour was over, we were led to another area which was decorated to give the feeling you were actually in an old Celt village. Let's just say they meant well. I think we must have been there at the end of the day because the staff seemed a little "punchy". For instance, there was a fake decapitated head hung from a tree who's mouth moved when someone spoke from behind the curtain. It would "speak" to people below it as they'd pass by. "Hey, would you scratch my nose?"...or, "Today is my Birthday!" were some of the sillier rants. I'm sure it was intended for more serious instruction. I'm embarrassed to admit that this was the highlight of our visit to Celtworld and we still talk about that head to this day. Well, what can I say? It was FUNNY! (maybe you had to be there.)

Ailesbury Road has always been the snootiest address in Dublin City. I imagine that this is where…read moreall Ireland's oil barons, slave traders, shipping magnates and tobacco plantation owners live. The residents here must have leapt out of they're bouffant wigs with glee when the Irish Edition of Monopoly made Ailesbury Road, and it's tributary, Shrewsbury Road, the two most expensive and desirable properties on the board. In fact, I can easily picture The Monopoly Man twiddling his moustache comfortably through retirement in like-minded company here. The most illustrious resident of Ailesbury Road has always been the French Ambassador whose 'residence', as they say, has the air of his own little Georgian Versaille. In fact, you wouldn't feel at home here without some corps diplomatique licence plates on your jaguar, as most of the houses are the residences of Ambassadors. This beautiful leafy boulevard is too opulent to even, really, feel jealous of, I have no idea how much these properties are worth but I imagine Mr. Monopoly's valuation is way of the mark. It's worth a stroll down, just to see how you the 99th percentile live.

As Bronagh has given a rather excellent history of the William Dargan Bridge (see below), I don't…read moresee the need for any (hugely inferior) repetition from me. What I will say however is that this is a bridge that I truly like. If you are walking up to the bridge at night and a Luas is passing on it, it looks and sounds as if the Luas is also an alien craft floating along. If you are walking over the bridge, you get to see stunning dusks and good traffic jams too. On another note, my dad and I saw it being completed when they inserted the final segment into the middle of it. Yes it was cold, yes it was the dead of night but dammit it was a very cool thing to see! Since that date I have walked over the bridge umpteen times enjoying concerts from Marley Park and wondering why I was crossing the bridge as I lived on the other side of the road. All in all, its a great bridge!

Seeing as I seem to be on a roll with my facts of Dundrum (I should write a book!) I will now tell…read moreyou about the Dundrum Luas Bridge. Did you know that it's not the first bridge to span that particular stretch? There used to be another bridge there a long time ago that brought a railway from Harcourt street all the way to Wexford. The very clever Dublin council knocked it down in the sixties however thinking there would never be a need for a railway again! So wrong! So that how we ended up with the attractive bridge we have now. Do you know the name of this bridge? I decided not to name it its real name in the review title because then nobody would ever find it! Well it's called the William Dargan, and why you ask? Well William Dargan is the father of Irish railways and he was actually the guy who built the first bridge to cross Dundrum, he also built the railway line that went over it to Dun Laoghaire. Really it's only fitting that it is named after him!