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County Offaly located in the centre of Ireland, is known for the lovely valleys of the Slieve Bloom Mountains in the southeast. Low-lying boggy
lands dominate. Both County Clare and County Offaly offer plenty of fine pubs where you can join the locals for a traditional singalong.
Trout and salmon abound in the Shannon region's many open waterways.
Click on the headings to find out more:
Birr is known as Ireland's Georgian Heritage town, with serene, tree-lined avenues and carefully preserved architecture. Birr Castle has been
the seat of the Earls of Rosse for over 300 years. Its formal gardens include box hedges recorded in The Guinness Book of World Records
as the world's tallest.
Birr Castle, with its splendid gardens surrounding a great lake, is home to Lord and Lady Rosse.
Its gardens house an enormous telescope,
dating from 1845 and currently being restored. The 3rd Earl of Rosse, born in 1800, was determined his new telescope should be the world's
biggest. He got his wish and the telescope held the title for 75 years. Not to be outdone, his son designed an apparatus to measure heat
given off by the moon. The device has proved an enormous boon for those who spend nights wondering just how much heat is being reflected
by the moon.
"A raised bog of major international importance" - that's how publicity describes a bog tour by rail in these parts. The guided,
5.5-mile (9km) circular tour by special train is much more interesting than you might think.
The Slieve Bloom area of hidden river valleys, moorlands and mountains offers plenty of invigorating walks and a variety of wildlife including
fallow deer, wild goats, hares - and lots of stoats. Perhaps stop at a little village like Kinnity, sip a Guinness and contemplate the
difference between a stoat and a weasel.
"A weasel is weasily identified. A stoat is stotally different".
Leap Castle, a few miles to the south, was destroyed by fire during the Irish Civil War in 1922. Reputed to be the most haunted castle in
Ireland, it's still a decidedly creepy spot. One of the castle's most feared apparitions was the so-called "Smelly Ghost" - an unsavoury
phantom giving off an abominable stench. Those who saw it were filled with fear and loathing - mainly loathing.
The Bog of Allen, an enormous brown peatland, is one of Ireland's best-known place names. Just who was Allen? The answer is lost is the mists
of time. Possibly he's lying under the bog somewhere. McGillycuddy Reeks, which is not a comment on the personal hygiene of Mr McGillycuddy,
but an Irish Mountain Range, also deserves some sort of prize in the weird name stakes.
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