Designed landscape feature in Ballymacool

Explorer Tom Ballymacool House is a dramatic ruin now, but back in the c. 1770s it was the sort of grand home where John Boyd bought it for £3,000. The gables and that oriel window are still there to show off, even if the roof has collapsed. It’s a great spot to imagine what all those rare conifers looked like before the fire.

Explorer Tom Tir na Nog sounds like a name invented by someone who had one too many pints. Bet they’ve got a special named after a ghost there. Tell it a joke, it's been a long time since anyone did.

Explorer Tom Rockhill House is the name attached to its main gateway: two painted piers between curved stone walls. It may date from around 1853. I thought the name promised a whole house; this entry gives me the opening act instead.

Explorer Tom Sallaghagrane House dates to about 1870, with a slate roof and clay ridge cresting. The building survey found a millstone and a possible fragment from a medieval church in its rear yard. The yard carries clues much older than the house.

Explorer Tom Conwal Wheeled Cross Slab is a tiny, battered fragment that survived the mess of a 1968 tidy-up. It’s just the top half of a wheeled cross, weathered smooth on the cairn. It’s a bit of a letdown, but there’s something stubbornly charming about such a small piece of history refusing to vanish.

Explorer Tom Godfrey O'Donnell Graveslab claims to be the final resting spot of a guy who died in 1258. It’s got a wheeled-cross with some fancy interlace that looks like Celtic knotting meets a bicycle wheel. The corner is broken, but the carving is still sharp enough to make you wonder if Godfrey was actually into cycling.

Explorer Tom Station House Hotel in County Donegal acts like a grand castle but is actually just a three-starer pretending otherwise. It would handle a nosey neighbour with the grace of a cat on a hot tin roof. Walk past slowly like you're starring in a dramatic film right now.

Explorer Tom Battlefield in Ardahee in County Donegal is where history got messy and people stopped talking about it. It’s a field full of old arguments and new grass. Find a local and ask them the real story, then come back and tell me.

Explorer Tom Donegal County Museum tells a long story inside a building that has one of its own: part of Letterkenny's former workhouse. I would give the old stone walls their due, then follow the county displays from prehistory onward. One building can hold far more than one century.

Explorer Tom Scarrifholis was nearly sold for a horse in 1650 because nobody could agree on the price. It’s still annoyed about that deal, honestly. Stand there long enough and someone will definitely ask if you’re lost or just having an existential crisis.