County Monaghan enjoys a gentle, rolling landscape. It is a county of pretty detail and grand estates. Dragonflies in profusion, little wooded lakes sedge-rimmed bogholes; copper beaches everywhere. In parts, the country lanes are so unused to traffic, the grass tufts up through the tarmac! Not surprisingly, Co Monaghan is high on the wish list of every coarse fishermen. The south has been romanticised by the poet, the late Patrick Kavanagh, and his many admirers make their Pilgrimage to the Rural and Literary Resource Centre in Inniskeen.

Monaghan was originally built on a monastic site but, after being seized by English forces in the 17th century, was developed in the Georgian style around three wide squares, the grandest of them called The Diamond. In July, there is a music festival with plenty of singing and dancing.

Navan Fort:
Navan Fort is one of the most significant archeological finds of recent times. The huge site extends around a 40m round wooden temple erected in 94 BC on a much earlier pagan site. A skull from a North African ape was discovered on the site - why and how did it get there?

Monaghan County Museum:
An EC award-winning museum housing the Cross of Clogher (dating from 1400) and many other interesting relics.

 
Clones:
This is the home of hand-crocheted lace. The town rather shows its age and quietly hides a fascinating history. Amongst the quaint and the curious is a 12th century heavily carved stone cross and a fine graveyard with headstones bearing the skull and cross bones.

Kells:
Where Ireland's most treasured manuscript was created and now in Trinity College Dublin . A small village with a vast Christian inheritance and Seat of Kings.

Armagh:
Was founded by a warrior queen, Ard Mhacha, from whom the city gets its name. Once the religious capital of Ireland, the Georgian architecture, including Archbishop Robinson's palace, is grand enough to rival Dublin. Today, the palace and stables (pictured) are a museum in which 18th century life is brought alive.

Riding, walking, sightseeing, fishing.

Rossmore, Parkland course, 6000 yards, Par 68.
Founded 1916. Designer Des Smith.
Clones, Parkland course, 9 holes, 5788 yards, Par 68.
Founded 1913.
Nuremore, Parkland course, 18 holes, 6715 yards, par 71.
Founded 1991. Designer Eddie Hackett.
Slieve Russell, Parkland course, 18 holes, 7013 yards, par 74.
Founded 1992. Designer Paddy Merrigan.

Castle Leslie, Monaghan
Aberdeen Lodge, Dublin - 85 miles
Merrion Hall, Dublin -85 miles
Jennings Hotel, Castlebar, Mayo - 140 miles