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Touring Tipperary, Ireland (or a portion of it)

I spent a couple of fun days in County Tipperary in June (09). Tipperary is divided into North Tipperary (where local car registration is TN) and Tipperary South (where the car registration TS). It is in the province of Munster and has good road and rail connections from Dublin. (Ca in 2 hours drive from Dublin.

The county is in the Midlands and bordered by the counties of Waterford in the South, Kilkenny, Laois and Offaly to the east, north Galway and Cork, Limerick and Clare to the west.

When my wife was involved in a four-day course in the Tipperary Institute in Thurles in North Tipperary we needed to find accommodation, dogs accepted. There are several hotels in Ireland, there is â € œpet friendlyâ €, but from researching this on the internet, most appear to be in the west of Ireland. We stayed in one of them last June in Renvyle in Connemara. Ultimately, I found Ashleypark House, located near Nenagh via a website listed B & B accommodation is friendly.

Although the has a very informative web Sitea full of information and beautiful pictures, I used the old fashioned way to contact them â € "the phone to sort our booking. They have a small flat adjacent to the building and a renovated cottage gardeners, who can be hired for self catering or a combination of self catering and eat in the main building.

We drove from Dublin on a hot sunny Thursday afternoon, using the new toll Systema on M50 then by N4, M4 and M6 and through Tullamore famous Irish whiskey Tullamore Dew. We found the house after asking a few local, although it was well signposted on the N52 road and the AA route planner directions were good.

Ashleypark House set in 76 hectares woodland, formal gardens and a lake, with two entrances, both with a gate lodge has a long walk of about 1 km. It is a 18th century country house has been restored by its present owners. It is full of character and apart from offering bed and breakfast accommodations are excellent four course dinner with wine.

The first night was we are in a back bedroom overlooking a grass-covered courtyard, which houses peacocks and cockerel. Since it does not get dark till almost eleven at this time of year and ease of rapid 3, these birds donâ € ™ t have much sleep, and calling out from just after 3.30 and they are noisy. Sean the unusually active 80 + living owner of the house suggested that we move to a room on the front of the house has fantastic views over the lake and much more quietly. It was the room in which President Mary McAleese  stayed in a few years ago. What an honor for our Irish born dog to sleep in the same room that the president had slept in!

The house was very good value costing around â, ¬ 100 per person per day in bed (with en-suite), full Irish breakfast, a four-course dinner with coffee or tea, and wine included. Prices of wine ranged from â, ¬ 22 to â, ¬ 30 a bottle on average (and we have found a very good red â, ¬ 25 a bottle). Â Â

Every day I had to take my wife to Thurles (approximately 40 km + away) and in exchange for a full Irish breakfast, and then take a trip with my mother, who had come with us and Joss the dog. On the first day we decided to explore the local area â € "Tipperary Lakeside in Shannonâ € ™ s Lough Derg District. Lough Derg is the largest lake on the River Shannon. Although there is a lake ring road, you can run up to the various villages situated around it. Take in a visit to newly built â € œThatched Cottageâ € pub in Ballycommon plus a factory outlet was a great day. The area was full of recently built houses, many large buildings with electric gates, illustrating Irelandâ € ™ s wealth in the last few years.

On the second day we went shopping in Nenagh. Nenagh is a very prosperous looking Irish Midlands town. There just seemed to be a business that had closed down and the city has a center to trace your ancestors, a cinema, modern out of town shopping complex, plus many traditional shops in town. There are a few stores that years ago would have been described as â € œdrapersâ €. These companies are at 2 / 3 floors offer my Ladies and gentlemanâ € ™ s clothing, furnishings, furniture was etc. One Gough O'Keefe Naughton and drapery store and each shop was well stocked and busy.

After the shopping trip, we moved into Limerick, driving into the city from the edge now corresponds to a major Irish town where they out of town shopping malls are full of UK retailers. The town is not big and unfortunately has a reputation over the last few years for Gangland activity. This seems to be family gang members of a gang to attack members of another. This should not put off visitors to the city which has many fine streets and stunning scenery.

We crossed over Shannon again and moved into Co Clare, and stopped at Bunratty Castle. The fine old castle, which has a â € œfolk villageâ € adjoining it is worth visiting. I then had some twenty years earlier, so this time do not walk around the village. They include medieval banquets at the palace. Bunratty now has a bypass, but it has been well built, and you probably donâ € ™ t miss the turn off the main N18. Limerick and Galway are just a short distance from Shannon Airport.

It is a very popular destination for holidaymakers with a great development of self catering cottages run by â € œDream Irelandâ € company that features many of their properties at jmlvillas.com website. We parked outside durty Nellyâ € ™ s, which is one of Ireland's most famous pubs. Â

After coffee in the spacious craft shop complex we moved into minor roads following signs for sixmilebridge. This is a picturesque little village with a pub by a stream that has miniature version of the pub by next to it called the â € œDuck Inna €. Following the recent UK Parliamentâ € ™ s expenses saga when an MP claimed for costs involving his duck floating island house, I could not resist taking a few pictures of this floating â € œduck pubâ €. Â

We then follow the signs for Button Pogue Castle. I remember going there one summer when visiting relatives in Ireland with over thirty years ago of a Mediaeval banquet. The more popular, even at Bunratty was booked out so we went to Button Pogue, who is not so much on the tourist route. This Saturday in June, it was deserted, the weather at the time had changed to rain, but the notices said they still hold these banquets and wedding receptions there.

The next goal was driven to Thurles via Limerick and not take the road to Nenagh which would be eliminated. You needed a map of the villages, you would go through since the route was deliberately not signposted for Thurles before you were about 30 kilometers from it. Although it rained it was a great drive through the picturesque villages, most of which has a shop, pub and church. Bit like days before has there been a lot of new houses built over the last few years and property, old and new are in very good condition. No doubt the owners have to work in Limerick.

Regardless of where you went for it in the remote rural areas, a city which had hundreds of poster pictures of candidates for the Irish local elections and European parliamentary elections, held in Ireland on Friday. Visit Ireland again a couple of weeks after the event was missing something with all the naked lamp posts and telegraph poles, where these posters were. It was a bit like when the Christmas decorations have to come down on the twelfth night with only odd poster slip through elimination net. Â

Before you come to Tipperary institution, we drove around Thurles itself, even if it rained you got a very good idea of the city. This city isa a very prosperous looking place, full of shops, pubs and restaurants.

Sunday was the last touring day, and we were in Tipperary could not miss the opportunity to visit Tipperary itself. The day was warm and sunny again turn off the familiar Nenagh to Thurles route we drove down a very bumpy road, at one time was a single track road with grass in the middle, roughly equivalent to the width of their country estate properties Ashleypark House. The worrying factor was that there were not many passing places, and fortunately, no other traffic was moving in the opposite direction.

The car was very low on petrol and none of the picturesque villages had filling stations. We arrived on the outskirts of Tipperary without incident and updated cara € ™ s tank.

Tipperary was very similar to Thurles, Nenagh and the other local cities. After looking around, we moved into Thurles again this time take the route through Cashel, which is one of the most spectacular tourist attractions in Ireland and one of the most visited. It isa home to the iconic Rock of Cashel.

Monday was the day to leave the house Ashleypark a place that was so quiet. There is a rowing boat available for guests to use at the lake and plenty of walks and the bonus is that they accept dogs.

There are so many people traveling with dogs to Ireland, it seems very strange that there are several companies that are friendly. Perhaps the economy has been so good for so long, that they had full occupancy without the need to encourage people with pets. Now that tourist levels will be smaller and fewer visitors from Great Britain because of the high cost ferry in the Irish Sea routes (as opposed to going to France) and the weak pound against the euro, hotels will have to look at their market and the restrictions they imposed.

Ashleypark House is listed with â € œThe Hidden Irelandâ € here are the 30 other types of accommodation in locations around Ireland. Apart from Ashleypark house there was only one other house announced that it would allow pets and in this case as â € œKennels and stables availableâ €. It is a great pity that others are not friendly, we will be looking for another area to visit next year.

It looks like prices generally will be reviewed to attract more custom. I discovered at a hotel in Malahide, near Dublin the other day that a pint of Kilkenny beer costing â, ¬ 4.90 and it is higher than the same brand in southern France. A pint of real ale back in my local pub in England will set you back around  £ 3.00, so they need to look at the costs to attract the important tourism industry.

On the subject in Dublin, we drove back through Roscrea, N7, before negotiations on the M50 toll again pay the fee this time at the local Spar-store instead of online.

After a visit to Ireland for the past 35 years, it was really nice to go to Tipperary for first time and able to cover a portion of the county, be it North Tipperary! It is a very wealthy place to visit, and you get a fantastic welcome and prices seem to be much, much better value than Dublin.

About the Author

Philip Suter is a Director of jml Property Services; http://www.jmlproperty.co.uk a UK based company offering Insurance products on line at http://www.irishpropertyinsurance.com and a holiday home advertising service and management training within the UK. He is a very experienced property consultant with over 30 years work in the Residential letting business in the UK and served on the National Council of ARLA. He is a Fellow of the National Association of Estate Agents (NAEA) and a Member of The association of Residential Letting Agents (ARLA)

Ireland Route Planner