Page 214 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - Ireland

212  IRELAND REGION B Y REGION

The imposing Kylemore Abbey on the shores of Kylemore Lough
q Kylemore Abbey nuns as a girls’ school. Visitors Polladirk River. Visitors come
can view restored rooms in the for the spectacular landscape
Road map A3. Connemara, Co Gal way.
Tel 095 52001. @ from Galway. Open abbey, as well as explore the and to glimpse the famous
9am–7pm daily (last adm 6:30pm). grounds, a restaurant, craft shop, Connemara ponies.
Closed Christmas. 8 groups call to pottery studio and soap factory. Part of the land originally
book. Walled garden: Open daily. & There is also a restored belonged to the Kylemore
0 = 7 limited. ∑ kylemore Victorian walled garden in the Abbey estate. In 1980 it
abbeytourism.ie grounds, featuring the longest be came a National Park. There
double herbaceous borders in are traces of the land’s previous
Sheltered by the slopes of Ireland, a nuttery and a uses all over the park: mega­
the Twelve Bens, this lakeside meandering streamside walk. lithic tombs, up to 4,000 years
castle is a romantic, battle­ old, can be seen as well as old
mented Gothic Revival fantasy. w Connemara ridges marking former grazing
It was built as a present for his areas and arable fields.
wife by Mitchell Henry (1826– National Park The park is open all year,
1911), who was a Manchester Road map A3. Letterfrack, Connemara, while the Visitors’ Centre
tycoon and later Galway MP. Co Galway. Tel 095 41054. Park: near the entrance, just outside
The Henrys also purchased a Open daily. Visitors’ Centre: Tel 095 Letter frack, is open only from
huge area of moorland, 41054. Open Mar–Oct: daily. 7 - March to mid­October. It features
drained the boggy hillside ∑ connemaranationalpark.ie displays on local flora and
and planted thousands of trees fauna and on how the land­
as a windbreak for their new A combination of bogland, lakes scape developed and was
orchards and exotic walled and mountains makes up this used. There is also an indoor
gardens. After the sudden National Park in the heart of picnic area. Three sign posted
deaths of his wife and daughter, Connemara. Within its more walks start from the Visitors’
Henry left Kylemore and the than 2,000 ha (5,000 acres) Centre. In summer there are
castle was sold. are four of the Twelve Bens, guided walks, some led by
It became an abbey when including Benbaun, the highest botanists, and various children’s
Benedictine nuns, fleeing from mountain in the range at 730 m activities. Climbing the Twelve
Ypres in Belgium during World (2,400 ft), and the peak of Bens should be attempted only
War I, sought refuge here. For Diamond Hill. At the centre is by experienced walkers equip­
many years it was run by the the valley of Glanmore and the ped for all weather conditions.
Connemara Wildlife
The blanket bogs and moorlands of
Connemara are a botanist’s paradise,
especially for unusual bog and heathland
plants. Birdlife is also varied: there are
hooded crows, which can be recognized by
their grey and black plumage, stonechats,
peregrines and merlins – the smallest
falcons in the British Isles. Red deer have
been successfully reintroduced into the
area and a herd can be seen in the National
Park. Badgers, foxes, stoats and otters may
also be spotted, as well as grey seals along
the rocky coast. The merlin nests in old St Dabeoc’s heath, a pretty
clumps of heather and feeds heather, grows nowhere else
mainly on small birds. in Ireland or Great Britain.

For hotels and restaurants in this region see pp300–301 and pp318–20

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Eyewitness Travel LAYERS PRINTED:
Catalogue template “UK” LAYER
(Source v1.9)
Date 20th August 2012
Size 125mm x 217mm