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I am, of course, talking about the Chinese New Year for 2020, which begins this coming Saturday, 25th January. If you are feeling a little uneasy about these rodents you can take comfort in that [...]

In Ireland’s Hidden Heartlands a divine hotel, The Wineport Lodge, @Wineport_Lodge sits right on the edge of Lough Ree, part of the River Shannon’s network of glassy lakes. What sets [...]

For very good reasons I recently ended up taking the Ferry from Holyhead to Dublin. Due to ferry timetables it meant an overnight nearby so after much research The Sunnyside in the Victorian [...]

Last of the Summer Wine: The meteorological date for the start of autumn is 1 September. If you add that fact to the children being back at school then we can take it that it is officially [...]

A Cast of Thousands Imagine a Pageant spectacular featuring a cast of 5,500, massed choirs, orchestras, brass band, pipes and drums, alpine horns, over 40 cows and several horses.  Marry [...]

Listing best beaches is a problem as I haven’t visited a single beach this year; shame on me.  It is the middle of July and flip flops, togs and sun cream are now in the beach bag so no [...]

Hard to believe that Midsummer and the longest day of the year is this week.  The Summer Solstice, which is celebrated far and wide, is now upon us. I refuse to mention our summer weather as [...]

Switzerland has simply divine alpine flowers and Italy is known for their spectacular exotics such as Bougainvillea. France is famous for their massive fields of Lavender. Much farther afield in [...]

Carrick-on-Shannon is one of the prettiest towns in Ireland.   Located on the banks of the Shannon it has for years been known as the centre for boat hire for the gentlest of leisure [...]

All of a sudden there are daffodils springing into bloom everywhere. February is somewhat early for the daffodil, a member of the Narcissus family.  They have a much closer association with March [...]