Today I attended a "Social Media" course in Wicklow , hoping to upgrade my communication skills and get my new website "out there"! Looking out the window over the rooftops of this old port town, I thought about it's best known former citizen and his role in communication history - Captain Robert Halpin. When I read his life story, and there is an excellent account of his life on www.countywicklowheritage.org, two things struck me. Firstly, Robert Halpin signed up for seven

With the recent unseasonably late snow ("Beast from the East" and his younger brother!) my thoughts turned to the warmest and coldest tours I have ever done. There was no competition - two tours jumped out of the archive in my head, straight away! In 2013 I took a notion and organised a tour to Ireland's Eye, a little island, just ten minutes by boat from the busy fishing port of Howth. This was one of my better ideas - I managed to get the hottest day of the entire summer -

Lugala Estate is one of the most beautiful places in Ireland - a valley with a deep dark corrie lake - Lough Tay, nestling under the dramatic cliffs of Lugala Mountain. In recent years, Lough Tay has become known as "the Guinness Lake" and with good reason. It looks like a pint of the dark stuff with it's black peaty waters and the bright sands of the beach are like the creamy head on a good pint! It has also been home to members of the Guinness family since the 1930's and th

Many visitors to Ireland enjoy the sight of sheep in the green fields of Ireland. In fact, last week, they were the white fields of Ireland as we had a very late dump of snow, nicknamed "the Beast from the East". This was not good news for sheep farmers. I grew up on a sheep farm in the Wicklow Uplands, about thirty miles from Dublin City and the family farm is now managed by my brother. One of the options I offer on my tours is a visit to the farm (subject to the farming tim