Ireland (Lonely Planet, 9th Edition) - Fionn Davenport [115]
The castle is packed with furniture and paintings; highlights are a 16th-century oak room with decorative carvings, and the medieval Great Hall, which has family portraits, a minstrel’s gallery and a painting of the Battle of the Boyne. Puck, the Talbot family ghost, is said to have last appeared in 1975.
The parkland (admission free; 10am-9pm Apr-Oct, 10am-5pm Nov-Mar) around the castle is a good place for a picnic.
FRY MODEL RAILWAY
Ireland’s biggest model railway ( 846 3779; Malahide Castle; adult/child/student/family €6/4/5/16; 10am-1pm & 2-5pm Mon-Sat, 2-6pm Sun Apr-Sep, 2-5pm Sat, Sun & holidays Oct-Mar) is 240 sq metres, and authentically displays much of Ireland’s rail and public transport system, including the DART line and Irish Sea ferry services, in O-gauge (32mm track width). A separate room features model trains and other memorabilia. Unfortunately the operators suffer from the overseriousness of some grown men with complicated toys; rather than let you simply look and admire, they herd you into the control room in groups for demonstrations.
Getting There & Away
Malahide is 13km north of Dublin. Bus 42 (€2.20) from Talbot St takes around 45 minutes. The DART stops in Malahide (€2.50), but be sure to get on the right train (it’s marked on the front carriage) since the line splits at Howth Junction.
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Counties Wicklow & Kildare
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COUNTY WICKLOW
WICKLOW MOUNTAINS
WESTERN WICKLOW
THE COAST
SOUTHERN WICKLOW
ARKLOW
COUNTY KILDARE
MAYNOOTH
AROUND MAYNOOTH
STRAFFAN
ALONG THE GRAND CANAL
NEWBRIDGE & THE CURRAGH
KILDARE TOWN
ATHY
DONNELLY’S HOLLOW TO CASTLEDERMOT
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Bordering Dublin to the south and west are the counties of Wicklow and Kildare, which are themselves neighbours but very different from one another. Wicklow is scenic, stunning and wild, whereas Kildare offers a more sedate, pastoral landscape dotted with wealthy homes and expensive horses.
Wicklow, to the south, has been far more successful in fending off the worst effects of the sprawl, largely due to the county’s most imposing natural feature: a gorse-and-bracken mountain spine that is as wildly beautiful as it is impenetrable to the developers. Here, history and geology work together to great effect and preserve one of Ireland’s most stunning landscapes, replete with dramatic glacial valleys, soaring mountain passes and some of the country’s most important archaeological treasures – from breathtaking early-Christian sites to the elegant country homes of the wealthiest of Ireland’s 18th-century nobility.
Kildare might not have the dramatic landscapes, but it is one of the most prosperous farming counties in the country and once a key part of the English Pale, as the ‘obedient territories’ surrounding Dublin were once known. It is also where you’ll find some of the most lucrative thoroughbred stud farms in the world, many with links to the horse-breeding centre of Kentucky in the US. Horse breeding is a big deal in Ireland, but in Kildare it’s the very lifeblood of the county, generating many millions of tax-free euro.
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HIGHLIGHTS
Monastic Magic Evocative ruins and the marvellous slopes and forests of gorgeous Glendalough
Bogged Down County Kildare’s huge tracks of fecund land at the Bog of Allen
The Hills are Alive Ireland’s most popular hiking trail, the Wicklow Way
The Art is Hot Art and atmosphere of magnificent Russborough House
The Glory of the Garden Gorgeous Italianate gardens and the impressive waterfall at Powerscourt Estate
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POPULATION: 300,775
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AREA: 3718 SQ KM
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COUNTY WICKLOW
Wicklow (Cill Mhantáin) is Dublin’s favourite playground – directly south of the capital and in a long and desperate struggle to stop its northern reaches from being absorbed by the persistent spread of the suburban jungle. Wicklowites