Situated just 8 miles north of Newmarket-on-Fergus and Ardkeen B&B, Ennis is the largest town in County Clare. The following extract from the book "Ireland - The Rough Guide" will give you a flavour of the local attractions.

Ennis sits in a low-lying strip of land that runs from a deep inlet of the Shannon river right up to South Galway. To the east of the town are lush fields edged by white-grey walls and clumps of wild flowers: pinks, purples and yellows of willow herb and ragwort, the strong white horns of bindweed, and even the occasional orchid. Further out, the land breaks into little lakes and rivers before becoming gently hilly to meet the Slieve Bernagh Mountains. This gentle farmland makes for easy cycling, and your trip can be punctuated by village pubs and plenty of church ruins and castles.

One of the most pleasant rides east of Ennis is to Quin Abbey, the area's best-preserved Franciscan friary, founded in 1433. The main church building is graceful, its slender tower rising clear over the high, open archway between chancel and nave and making a distinct outline against the green of the surrounding pastures. Climb up a floor to the first storey and you can look down on the abbey's complete cloister that has not only the usual arches but also slim buttresses. For all the uplifting beauty of the tower, the abbey seems to have been built on a human scale, to function as a place in which to live and worship rather than to impress and dominate.

On the other hand, the massy walls of Knappogue Castle emanate an awesome sense of power. Leave Quin and continue two miles south on the 131 to reach this huge sixteenth century tower house. It was originally built by the Macnamaras, but they lost it to Cromwell, who then used it as his HQ - thereby, no doubt, saving it from the major damage he inflicted elsewhere. At the Restoration, the Macnamaras managed to regain ownership of the castle and hung on to it until 1800. Ifs been beautifully restored and inside are boldly carved sixteenth-century oak fireplaces and stout oak furniture. At odds with the overall flavour of Knappogue, the nineteenth century domestic additions are finished as if eighteenth-century rooms, beautifully appointed with Irish Chippendale furniture and Waterford crystal. The main body of the castle is used for medieval banquets.

The second left turning, two miles south of Knappogue, brings you to the

Craggaunowen Project, tucked on the edge of a reedy lake under a wooded hillside.

This is based around another fortified tower house, the ground floor of which houses a collection of sixteenth-century European wood carvings The project itself alms to recreate a sense of Irelands ancient history, with reconstruction's of earlier forms of homes and farmsteads; a ring fort and a crann6g, or artificial islands, for example. Young workers experiment with old craft techniques, using replicas of wooden lathes, kilns and other traditional devices, and double up as guides if asked.

The most adventurous and certainly the most famous of the working replicas here is Tim Severin's "Brendan", a leather-hulled boat in which he and four crew successfully sailed across the Atlantic in 1976, to prove that the legend of Saint Brendan could be true. Saint Brendan's story - he was supposedly the first European to reach America -is recorded in a ninth century manuscript, and the design of the Brendan is based on its descriptions, along with the features of curraghs still used off Ireland's west coast The result is a remarkable vessel of oak-tanned oxhides stretched over an ash-wood frame. Craggaunowen also has an actual Iron Age road, excavated at Coriea Bog, County Longford and moved to this site. Made of large oak planks placed across runners of birch or alder, it must have formed part of an important route across difficult bog. For refreshment, there's also a nice teashop here, which serves delicious home made cakes.

Eight miles beyond Craggaunowen, the village of CRATLOE is renowned for its oak-wooded hills overlooking the Shannon and Fergus estuaries and is a particularly lovely spot for walking.

Bunratty stands on what was once an island on the north bank of the Shannon, now handily situated on the N18 Limerick-Ennis Road. The Vikings of limerick recognised the site's strategic importance for protecting trade, and so they fortified it - you can still see the moat. The first castle on the site was built by Normans, but they lost control and, in 1460, the Macnamaras built the castle that stands today. Ifs exceptionally impressive: the fine rectangular keep has been perfectly restored and now houses a large collection of furniture, tapestries, paintings and ornate carvings from all over Europe, spanning the fourteenth to the seventeenth centuries. In the castle grounds, Bunratty Folk Park is a complete reconstruction of a nineteenth-century village. Although extremely touristy,both castle and folk village are well worth taking time over, and you can break up your visit in the excellent tea-room or the pub within the Folk Park. The nearby Durty Nellies is a favourite tourist bar, regularly overrun by bus parties.

(Ireland - The Rough Guide © 1996)