Set in the lovely broad plain of the Blackwater Valley, three miles west of Cappoquin, LISMORE, recently designated a heritage town, has a significant ecclesiastical history. There’s not much sign of this rich history today, but nevertheless the town does somehow manage to preserve a quiet reverence for its past. The town is dominated by the romantic towers and battlements of Lismore Castle (not open to the public), whose pale, white-grey stone, set with mullioned windows, rises magnificently on the hill from glorious woodlands and sumptuous gardens (May-Sept daily 1.45-4.45pm; £3/€3.81). The castle itself is a successful mid-nineteenth-century imitation of a Tudor castle, remodelled by Joseph Paxton (designer of London’s Crystal Palace) around the remains of the medieval fort that originally stood here. Its long occupation by the Anglo-Irish aristocracy (and less permanent colonists, including Sir Walter Raleigh) explains why so much of the layout of the park and farmland around here is reminiscent of wealthy English shires.