Sligo Park Hotel, Sligo. Ireland

Lissadell House is famous as the childhood home of Constance Markievicz, her sister Eva Gore Booth and her brother Josslyn Gore Booth. Constance was one of the leaders of the 1916 Rising, and was the first woman to be elected to Dail Eireann, where she served as Minister for Labour (thus becoming the first woman minister in a modern European democracy), and was also the first woman to be elected to the House of Commons at Westminster, London (where she declined to take her seat). Eva was a poet of distinction and an active suffragist, clashing with the young Winston Churchill over barmaids' rights in 1908. Josslyn created at Lissadell one of the premier horticultural estates in Europe. This horticultural enterprise has now been recreated at Lissadell. The great poet W. B. Yeats was friendly with the Gore Booth sisters and stayed at Lissadell in 1893 and 1894.

Nobel prizewinning Irish poet William Butler Yeats chose in one of his final poems, his own last resting place - Drumcliffe ‘under bare Benbulbens head’. He was finally laid to rest as he desired, beside the church where his great grandfather had come as a rector one hundred and thirty seven years previously. An epitaph is a short and often clever last message to the living found on gravestones. W.B Yeats’s epitaph reads ‘Cast a cold Eye On life, on death Horseman, pass by’! Drumcliffe churchyard also includes the remains of a High Tower and a High Cross constructed in the 11th century when there was a Christian monastery on the site. Drumcliffe Tea House and Craft Shop serve scrumptious homemade food and goodies and have a wide selection of high quality crafts on sale.

- Carrowmore, County Sligo is one of the four major passage tomb cemeteries in Ireland. It is the most extensive in Europe and older than the pyramids. It is located at the centre of a prehistoric ritual landscape on the Cúil Irra peninsula. This is the largest cemetery of megalithic tombs in Ireland and is also among the country’s oldest, with monuments ranging from five and a half thousand to six and a half thousand years old. Archaeologists have recorded over 60 tombs of which 30 are visible. A restored cottage houses an exhibition relating to the site.

The 327 m (1072.83ft) high mountain known as Knocknarea (Irish: Cnoc na Rí ) totally dominates the Cuil Irra peninsula. Sitting proudly on top is Queen Maebh’s Cairn ( Miosgán Meadhbha), a neolithic passage tomb. The cairn is 55m (180.45ft) wide by 10m(32.8ft) high and has never been excavated. It is directly in line with Carrowmore and other associated ancient sites in Sligo and beyond. There is a walking trail (really a dirt track) to the top and the walk is suitable for most fitness levels. The vista from the top is well worth the effort to get there! It is said that Queen Maebh a legendary chieftain queen of Connaught is buried beneath the cairn in full battle regalia, standing upright and facing her enemies in Ulster. Tradition suggests to bring a rock from the base to leave on the Cairn to receive good luck.