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KILBEGGAN AND TYRRELLSPASS |
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At KILBEGGAN , south of Lough Ennel, and heavily advertised for
miles around, is Locke's Distillery Museum (April-Oct Mon-Sat 9am-6pm,
Sun 10am-6pm; £3.25/¬4.12). The mill-wheel is still working and the
entrance fee includes a free sample which certainly enhances the tour.
The building is suffused with a tantalizing malty smell and there is a
small bar that sells some exceptional uisce beatha - the Irish for
whiskey - which literally means "the water of life"; try either the
Locke's single malt or the Connemara single malt for a real treat. The
building that looks like a small coal-tip is actually a whiskey
warehouse reputedly modelled on a Syrian palace. A pleasant restaurant
adjoining the museum serves reasonable food in front of an open fire.
If you need to break your journey on the haul back to Dublin on the N6,
you could head for TYRRELLSPASS - a tiny cluster of high Georgian and
vernacular buildings around a green - just to bask in its delicious
prettiness. The Village Hotel (tel 044/23171; £40-55/¬50.79-69.84),
right on the green, is the place to stay . The impressive tower house at
the other end of town has a museum and a café that does a range of bar-type
lunches for around £5/¬6.35. St Sinian's , a Gothic Revival church on
The Crescent, has some elaborate Belvedere tombs. One of the simplest
commemorates Jane, a countess "gifted with a masculine understanding".
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