The climate is mild on account of the Gulf Stream, without extremes of heat or cold.  Average temperatures in January are around 4-7oC and in July 14-16oC, rising occasionally as high as 25oC.  May and June are often the sunniest months, and North American visitors in particular will notice that there are many more daylight hours in summer than in the US.  Rainfall is heaviest in the mountainous west and lightest in the east but the weather is at all times very changeable.  A day of prolonged and depressing drizzle can end with a clear sky, a spectacular sunset and the promise of a sunny day to follow.  Even so it is wise to have a raincoat or umberella to hand while touring.

There are 32 counties and four provinces: Connacht, Leinster, Munster and Ulster.  Six of the 9 Ulster counties are part of the United Kingdom and the other 26 form the republic of Ireland.  The principal cities and towns are Belfast (capital of Northern Ireland), Dublin (capital of the republic of Ireland), Cork, Londonderry, Limerick, Waterford and Galway.

Ireland, as everyone knows, is very green.  This is caused by the mild, damp climate which encourages growth.  Two areas of great botanical interest are Glengarriff, Co. Cork, which enjoys the full benefit of the Gulf Stream, there is a luxuriant growth of tropical flora such as arbutus, fuchsia and other delightful flowering plants.  A trip to Garinish Island, just offshore from Glengarriff, with its beautiful plant collection is well worth while.  By contrast the Burren is an area of Co. Clare which resembles a lunar-like landscape of bare, carboniferous limestone.  It is 100 square miles in size but in spring and early summer produces a host of exotic orchids, ferns and rare plants.

There are at least 380 wild birds to be seen in Ireland, for migration goes on all year.  The most common species are blackbird, thrush, goldcrest, starling and curlew.  Among the indigenous animal species are the Irish hare, the Irish stoat, fox and red deer.  Wild deer roam the Kerry and Wicklow mountains.

Irish horse breeding is world famous, being centred on counties Meath and Kildare.  The national stud at Tully Co.Kildare (near the Curragh) can be visited at certain times of the year.  There are seven distinct breeds of Irish dog, the best known being the giant Irish wolf-hound, the Irish setter and the Irish water spaniel.  There is only one reptile, the common lizard, and, thanks to St. Patrick, no snakes!

See it all on Ireland tours with the specialists…..Ireland Luxury Tours

Our tours of Ireland are simply the best !!!!!!

At Blarney Castle, close to the city of Cork, the Blarney Stone is said, if kissed, to impart this loquacity on anyone feeling able to perform the certain amount of physical contortion necessary to be able to actually kiss the thing, which is situated high on one of the castle walls. Try it on a tour of Ireland.

The word ‘Blarney’ was introduced to the English language by Queen ElizabethI, who became so exasperated with the procrastination of a local chieftain, Cormac McCarthy, who refused to acknowledge the English throne’s right to his lands, that she declared that the sweet talking of the Irishman were all ‘blarney’.

McCarthy’s wily obstinacy paid off, however, and Blarney Castle never passed into British hands, even successfully withstanding Cromwellian sieges in the 17th century.

DAY TWO : Visit the English Market in Cork http://www.theenglishmarket.ie/    and historic Kinsale  http://www.kinsale.ie/

DAY THREE : Travel to Galway visiting Cliffs of Moher  http://www.cliffsofmoher.ie/   en route and book in to the Ballynahinch Castle Hotel  http://www.ballynahinch-castle.com/  for 2 nights.

DAY FOUR : Visit Aughnanure Castle  http://indigo.ie/~waterfnt/Aughnanurecastle.html  and Galway.

DAY FIVE : Travel to Belfast visiting Devenish Island en route  http://www.discovernorthernireland.com/Devenish-Island-Monastic-Site-Co-Fermanagh-Enniskillen-P2899  and book in to Culloden Hotel http://www.hastingshotels.com/culloden-estate-and-spa for 2 nights.

DAY SIX : Visit the North Coast including Dunluce Castle http://www.discovernorthernireland.com/Dunluce-Castle-Medieval-Irish-Castle-on-the-Antrim-Coast-Bushmills-P2819 and the Giants Causeway http://www.northantrim.com/giantscauseway.htm

DAY SEVEN : Travel to Dublin and book in to the Westbury Hotel for 3 nights. http://www.doylecollection.com/locations/dublin_hotels/the_westbury_hotel.aspx

DAY EIGHT : Visit National Museum and enjoy exploring Dublin. http://www.museum.ie/en/homepage.aspx

DAY NINE : Try open top bus tour  http://www.dublinsightseeing.ie/  , visit Guinness Brewery http://www.guinness-storehouse.com/en/Index.aspx , take Viking Splash Tour http://www.vikingsplash.ie/

DAY TEN : Return home.

This tour allows you to see the South , West , North , and East of Ireland. It also takes us through villages and countryside typical of Ireland.

We will see cities and historic castles and still enjoy a real variety of experiences.

The hotel in Dublin is not a castle  , like the others , but it is in a great location. I would advise that you have the driver/guide until Dublin. Then take those last few days of your vacation to enjoy exploring the place on your own. It is a great way to wind down after seeing so much , and fun to explore alone.

Ireland Luxury Tours create tours of Ireland to suit each individual client because your experience is special to us.

Garinish Island was bought from the British War Office in 1910 by Annan Bryce, a Belfast born MP, who enlisted the help of Harold Peto, a landscape designer famous for creating wild looking Mediterranean gardens which were the fashion at the turn of the last century.

Ilnacullin is considered his masterpiece, and against all odds – struggling with shallow soil and exposed, eroded rock – marvellous species of southern hemisphere and subtropical plants have been made to flourish, encouraged by the warm waters of the Gulf Stream which bathe the southern coast.  The most unusual specimens include Australian fern trees, rare camellias from Japan, conifers from South America, scarlet berry climbers from China, Cestrum newellii from Mexico and the largest recorded specimen of Dacrydium cupressinum, or rimu tree, within Ireland or the United Kingdom.

The Martello Tower on the highest point of the island was the first of many, built to fend off a Napoleonic invasion expected in 1804-5.  The remaining buildings, however, including the clock tower, a Grecian temple overlooking the sea, and flights of steps apparently built for the private bathing of an Aegean princess, were additions by Peto and Bryce.  Playwright George Bernard Shaw spent some time here working on St Joan in 1923, and Bryce gave the island back to Ireland as a gift in 1953.

Ireland Luxury Tours….creating special tours of Ireland….to suit you !!!!

His decendants still live in the splendid mansion of Bantry House, one of the most beautifully located houses in Ireland.  The terraced Italianate gardens overlook a gorgeous sweep of Bantry Bay.  The house amply repays a visit, its sumptuous rooms full of fascinating objects.  In a renovated side courtyard is the Bantry 1796 French Armada Exhibition Centre.  This lively museum recounts the history of Wolfe Tone’s failed rebellion and display articles recovered from the wreck of the frigate La Surveillante, which sank during the storm.

In 1796, Britain was once more saved from foreign invasion by the weather.  On 16 December a French Armada of 43 ships set sail from Brest, bound for Ireland.  From the start, it was a disaster, storms disrupting communications between the fleet.  Soon the ships were separated and only 16 battered crews reached Bantry Bay with their commander, Wolfe Tone.

On Christmas Eve Tone was ready to make his attack, but fatally, he decided to wait for Hoche, the French commander.  By the next day his chance of a landing had gone; savage gales had blown the ships out of the bay.  Tone wrote in his journal, ‘We were close enough to throw a biscuit ashore…The elements fight against us.’

Visit Bantry on your tours of Ireland with Ireland Luxury Tours……….

Made famous in the song, Bantry Bay in West Cork Ireland is of legendary beauty. Bantry, at the head of the bay, is a busy market town and fishing port.

Bantry Bay was twice entered by French fleets: in 1689 to support James II against William of Orange, in 1796 to aid Wolfe Tone and an Irish uprising. A storm dispersed the 1796 fleet and few of the ships made the Bay.

Bantry House, open to the public, is spectacularly situated and exuberantly furnished. It is one of Ireland’s most attractive Great Houses, full of treasures collected by various generations of Earls of Bantry from all parts of the world. In the courtyard of Bantry House, The French Armada Exhibition Centre has been developed. This features the ill-fated French Armada invasion of December, 1796.

The exhibition centre tells the story of the Armada…….

Over 200 years ago, in the Winter of 1796, a formidable French Armada, inspired by Wolfe Tone and the United Irishmen, sailed from Brest in France. Their purpose was to invade Ireland, put an end to British rule and establish an independent Irish republic. Almost 50 warships carried 15,000 soldiers to the Southwest of County Cork.

Stormy chaos reigned and with ship-to ship communication largely disrupted, the invasion foundered the fleet eventually turning about for home. Ten ships were lost….. One of these, the frigate Surveillante ,was too storm-damaged to make the return journey to France. She was scuttled off Whiddy Island and has lain undisturbed for almost 200 years. Rediscovered in 1982, the Surveillante was declared an Irish National Monument in 1985 and the work began on its recovery, conservation and exhibition.

Immerse yourself in the epic adventure of 1796, which includes an individual sound tour, complete with accompanying music and sound effects, available in a choice of different languages. The centerpiece of the exhibition is a giant 1 to 6 scale model of the frigate in cross-section, showing her construction and the various activities that were happening on board, vividly illustrating life in the French Navy 200 years ago. A life-size “Wolfe Tone” is shown in his cabin and extracts from his journal help bring the whole epoch story to life as visitors are taken through the sequence of events that occurred during those fateful days and nights…..

Any tour of Ireland should consider a visit…..Why not learn the famous Bantry Bay song…..

“As I’m sitting all alone in the gloaming,
It might have been but yesterday.
That we watched the fisher’s sails all homing,
Till the little herring fleet at anchor lay.
Then the fisher girls with baskets swinging,
Came running down the old stone way.
Every lassie to her sailor lad was singing,
Ah welcome back to Bantry Bay.

Then we heard the pipers sweet note tuning,
And all the lassies turned to hear.
As they mingled with a soft voice crooning.
Till the music floated down the wooden pier.
Save you kindly, colleens all, said the piper
Hands across and trip it while I play.
And the tender sound of song and merry dancing,
Stole softly over Bantry Bay.

As I’m sitting all alone in the gloaming,
The shawdows of the past draw near.
And I see the lovely faces round me
That used to glad the old front pier.
Some have gone upon their last logged homing,
Some are left, but they are old and grey.
And we’re waiting for the tide in the gloaming.
To sail upon the great highway.
To an isle of rest unending.
Called peacefully from Bantry Bay. “