Hidden treasures of Ireland

Go Ireland:Get off the main tourist trail for 10 of the best attractions in Ireland, writes JOHN G O'DWYER

Mayo

Country life museum

Museums tend to celebrate the extraordinary – iconic battles, tumultuous events, sublime discoveries – while often neglecting the lives of ordinary people.

The National Museum of Ireland – Country Life, located outside otherwise non-touristic Castlebar, Co Mayo puts this right and shows in fascinating detail how in past generations ordinary people coped with the challenges of a mostly harsh reality.

The National Folk Life Collection, which is housed in the museum, won’t tell you much about the Fenians, Civil War or the Emergency. Instead it gives a unique and absorbing view of how the ordinary people of Ireland lived in the years between the Famine and the late 1950s.

Allow plenty of time, though, for you won’t be able to drag yourself away without completing the four-floor exhibition.

• museum.ie or tel 094-9031755

Meath

Loughcrew cairns

The problem with tourism is that it often destroys the attraction that created it.

So when archaeologist Michael O’Kelly discovered in 1969 a golden ray of sunshine illuminating the burial chamber during the winter solstice in Newgrange it made the site an international honeypot. The subsequent influx of visitors has been good for Ireland but not so good if you dislike all the jiggery-pokery that goes with mass tourism.

So if seclusion is what you seek then head instead for the passage grave at Cairn T, in the Sliabh na Caillighe hills above Oldcastle, Co Meath.

Here you clamber to the highest point in Meath crowned by a burial chamber that is aligned to the rising sun at the spring and autumn equinox.

There is a powerfully evocative sense of history and with a little imagination you may fancy Stone Age farmers are still working in the fertile plains below.

• meath.ie or tel Meath Tourism at 046-9097060

Tipperary

Cahir Castle

It is undoubtedly our most iconic attraction but presently the Rock of Cashel wears an incongruous cap of steel to protect the buildings while wall frescoes are being restored. Access to Cormac’s Chapel and much of the cathedral is restricted and for decades now there has been no access to the wonderful views from the ramparts.

So why not travel on a few kilometres through the rolling Tipperary countryside to lovingly restored Cahir Castle. Here you can access virtually all areas of this huge Butler stronghold, especially the walls and towers that were part of its great defences.

Take the guided tour and the history really comes to life with children especially loving the dungeon, the cannon balls still impaling the outer walls and stories of a boiled oil welcome for impertinent attackers.

• heritageireland.ie or tel 052-744101

Kerry

Play at Height

It may be in Dingle but it is still well removed from the well-worn tourist trail. Deep within a grim commercial industrial estate is a most unexpected place to find one of Ireland’s newest and most innovative attractions.

Visitors to Play at Height can experience the adrenalin rush of ascending a vertical climbing wall with danger removed by tying into what are known as self-belays. These allow ascent but lower the climber gently if a fall occurs.

There are also two outdoor high ropes courses and a freefall adventure which drops participants thrillingly, but safely, from 40ft.

Play at Height is an attraction for all ages but be warned: give the kids one taste and you’re stuck for hours.

• playatheight.com or tel 066-9152822

Leitrim

Arigna Mining Experience

When two decades ago the sun set on the economic mainstay of the local economy the people of Arigna, Co Leitrim didn’t just accept the inevitable. Coal mining had existed here for centuries and when it ended it left behind not only slag heaps but a compelling story. Now a new visitor centre, in a wonderfully scenic location, is retelling the history of mining in Arigna.

This compelling story is told by ex-miners of Arigna who, with rich vivacity, explain their harsh employment on an enthralling tour that brings visitors literally to the coalface, where the claustrophobic methods used to extract coal are demonstrated.

Lighting and sound effects add an often startling touch of reality to the experience.

• arignaminingexperience.ie or tel 071-9646466

Westmeath

Belvedere House

Westmeath may be Ireland’s lakeland but so far it hasn’t exactly been where it’s at when it comes to tourism.

This is, however, changing with the coming of a visitor experience that offers something for everyone. At Belvedere House and Gardens, Mullingar, you can enjoy a bracing lakeside walk, tour an elegant 18th century mansion or visit one of three curious follies.

The most famous of these was built by eccentric Robert Rochfort who, having accused his wife of adultery, held her under house arrest for three decades. Later he built Ireland’s most famous folly, the huge gothic Jealous Wall to obscure Tudenham, the larger house built nearby by his much hated brother.

Robert had the last laugh, however, for today Tudenham lies in ruins while Belvedere lives to enthral.

• belvedere-house.ie or tel 044-9349060

Kilkenny

Ballykeeffe Amphitheatre

In the late 1980s, Tyndall Mountaineering Club began using an abandoned quarry at Ballykeeffe, Co Kilkenny for rockclimbing.

This drew community attention to the potential of the area and plans were developed for an outdoor amphitheatre modelled on the Minack Theatre – a famous cliffside venue in Cornwall.

Today Ballykeeffe has been transformed into a 350-seat amphitheatre for drama and concerts with performers such as Andy Irvine, Anuna, Kila, Cora Lunny and Noirín ni Ríain praising the unique atmosphere of the place.

The hard working local committee is working on another compelling programme of events for the coming summer which includes a climbing festival.

So if you would like to spend a memorable evening in a location that offers a unique outdoor experience, great atmosphere and stunning acoustics check out Ballykeeffe Amphitheatre.

• ballykeeffe.com (summer programme now available) or tel 056 7769610

Derry

Museum of Free Derry

Is your impression of Derry still informed by grainy images of rioters and British soldiers in conflict against a background of egregious urban decay?

Then it’s time you visited Northern Ireland’s second city, for today it oozes vitality and confidence and will be the UK City of Culture for 2013.

The visceral history remains, of course, but the people of Derry are now finding the courage to recount it.

Within the city walls the Tower Museum attempts an objective account of Derry’s story and simply shouts to be visited. My favourite, however, is the small Museum of Free Derry in the Bogside.

Clearly it wasn’t designed by a you-can’t-afford-me consultant, and it unashamedly presents one perspective, but this is actually a strength. Using photographs, film clips and newspaper cuttings this local initiative brings vividly to life the universal theme of a community, struggling, uniting and then growing when facing external threat.

• museumoffreederry.org or tel 048-71360880

Fermanagh

Marble Arch Caves

If you believe that the underground is for those who are convinced that mortality is for others – then think again.

Tucked away in a quite corner of Fermanagh, Marble Arch Showcave takes claustrophobia out of caving and now offers Ireland’s most memorable underground experience.

Tours last 75 minutes and begin with a short but unforgettable below ground boat trip on the subterranean Claddagh River, after which you are guided through a variety of underground experiences, including the famous Moses walk – a pathway sunk deep in a river – to the Calcite Cradle where the most striking formations are located.

Emerging into the daylight you will surely conclude that the pioneers who explored this cave by crawling, squeezing and diving in Stygian darkness certainly believed that mortality was not an issue for them.

• marblearchcaves.net or tel 00-44-28-66348855

Galway

Dun Chonchuir, Inishmaan

These days Aran Islands tourism concentrates on Inishmore and Inisheer.

This has allowed the other island, Inishmaan, continue as a serene outpost of Gaelic culture where Irish persists vibrantly as the living language.

To visit here is to sample the delights of a bygone era, but these don’t come neatly parcelled for Inishmaan remains delightfully unpackaged – ideal only for those wishing to rekindle the joy of exploring on foot.

From the new harbour, walk to the heart of the island and then follow the Inishmaan Trail – an easy 5km ramble covering the island highlights.

Chief among these is the improbably huge fort of Dun Chonchuir, offering a 360-degree panorama from atop astounding stonewall defences that now seem implausibly lavish considering the impoverished history of the island.

Gaze from here and it will be easy to understand how playwright J M Synge found inspiration for his greatest works from this austere skeletal landscape of water, stone and lonesome sky.

• galway.net