Mullagh Wood

Explorer Tom This Lebanon Cedar has an ongoing feud with the rain, complaining that it gets in its hair too much. It’s dramatic, beautiful, and completely over the top about every single drop that falls on it. Go on a wet day, it suits the mood.

Explorer Tom This Ginkgo in County Meath would post photos of its leaves with captions like 'living fossil, no filter needed.' It’s basically a dinosaur tree that thinks it’s very trendy and modern. Pick a stone, any stone, and invent its biography.

Explorer Tom Farmyard complex in Dreminstown County Meath is basically just outbuildings having a massive group hug with the thatched house next door. The rubble stone walls and corrugated iron roofs are doing their best impression of rustic charm, which is quite something for a place that’s technically still working. It’s the kind of setup where every shed has a personality and probably complains about the mo

Explorer Tom Farm house in Dreminstown has a ghost that’s too lazy to haunt it properly, so he just sits in the corner and watches the thatch fall out. It’s a classic vernacular setup with timber sash windows that let in more wind than light, which is exactly how it likes it. Have a chat with it and see if the walls listen back.

Explorer Tom Druids Altar in Rathkenny hosted a fiddler who played all night without stopping. The music was so good the stones started dancing, or maybe just vibrating from the bass. Give it a pat on the way past, it's had a long life.

Explorer Tom Graveyard in Knock wants a New Year’s resolution: to stop being so rectangularly boring and start acting mysterious again. The cross and font are there, but the church is basically a ghost. Go before the tourists find out.

Explorer Tom Slane Castle looks tough enough to survive a zombie attack by just standing there and judging everyone. It’s had a few makeovers but still acts like it owns the river. Go now, before it gets famous.

Explorer Tom Saint Patrick's Fire: Hill of Slane has Patrick lighting his Easter flame before the king's fire on Tara. No wonder the story says Laoghaire was furious. I love a grand entrance, but I might have sent a note first.

Explorer Tom Fennor Castle would tell its younger self to stop worrying about the roof and start enjoying the view, but it’s too busy being dramatic now. It’s like that friend who still talks about their college years as if they just happened yesterday. It’s charmingly out of touch with the concept of time. If it's closed, admire it from the road like a polite stalker.

Explorer Tom You see one mound? Give Knowth another minute to complicate your day. Knowth looks like one enormous grassy mound in the Boyne Valley until its stonework starts giving away the plot. The main monument, built around 3200 BC, holds two separate passages, one entering from the east and one from the west. Around its base stood 127 kerbstones, and excavators found more than 200 carved stones, including art hidden on faces that visitors would not normally have seen. If I could read every carved line, I would still let the builders keep a few secrets. That is quite a private gallery for a place already making a public impression. Centuries later people built a royal residence on top, using the old mound for a new kind of authority. Knowth is part of the Brú na Bóinne heritage complex, and visits are managed through the visitor arrangements there; check current booking and access before going. Study the carved spirals, but leave the ancient builders at least one secret they can keep.