Muckross House and Gardens

Muckross House and Gardens are 5 kilometers out of Killarney on the Kenmare road. (Be sure to choose the entrance gate that enables you to take your car to the car park beside the house). Tudor-style Muckross was built in 1843 in an enviable position beside the lake. The main rooms are furnished in splendid Victorian style and the remainder of the house serves as a folk museum with various exhibits. There’s also a bustling gift shop and tearoom. (Open daily, Mar–Nov, tel: 064 31440, fax: 064 33926.) The gardens surrounding the house are lovely, containing many subtropical plants, and there is no more delightful way to tour the grounds than by horse and trap. Muckross House and its vast estate were given to the Irish nation by the Bourne family of California, who had a smaller, lakeside estate, Filoli , just south of San Francisco.