Tankardstown

Activities

• Take a stroll around the 80 acres of parkland, with their lush tennis court, lawns and graceful tree-lined drives - there's even a children's playground, and a dog to walk!
  
  
• Or book a qualified walking guide to accompany you on a hike in the surrounding countryside. Trish, with usual efficiency, can offer you wet weather gear and walking boots in most sizes - so you can pack lightly
  
  
• Just 5 miles down the road is 18th-century Slane Castle, now most famed for its annual rock concert, which has seen everyone who is anyone perform to the 100,000 strong crowd every August
  
  
• Ireland's Stonehenge, Unesco World Heritage site Newgrange, about 10 minutes' drive away, is the most visited archaeological monument in the country and is 500 years older than the Great Pyramid of Giza. The prehistoric 'passage tomb' is constructed so that on the winter solstice a shaft of light illuminates the floor of the chamber
  
  
• Golf enthusiasts have a choice of 5 courses within a 20 mile radius, including long established Headfort Old Course, Baltray (home of the Irish Open) and Ashbourne Golf Club, with lakes and mature trees
  
  
• The Hill of Tara near county town Navan is an archaeological complex which, according to legend, was the seat of the ancient High Kings of Ireland
  
  
• Ireland is famous for its bloodstock and horse-riding excursions can be easily arranged; unlike in the UK, hunting with hounds isn't banned and County Meath is one of the best places to pursue the fox, with 5 hunts nearby
  
  
• History buffs can visit the site of the 1690 Battle of the Boyne near Drogheda, in neighbouring County Louth
  
  
• Soar over the countryside in a hot air balloon - a very experienced outfit operates out of Trim in County Meath