Local Things
Cork Butter Museum and Shandon Bells. There is a great amount of history to the Shandon area. The butter museum has a website with a printable quiz to do with 'Food in the early days of Ireland', co-inciding with the coming 'Imbolc'/ st Bridget/return of the light/fertility/butter feast. And the Shandon Bells we can go up into the tower, and apparently play the bells.
At the castle you will find:
- Cosmos at the Castle, Ireland's first interactive science exhibit
- BCO Labs, with researchers from CIT
- The Castle Bar & Trattoria
- First Quarter moon viewings where you are invited to learn how telescopes work and see the moon up close.
- Hands-on workshops exploring different themes in science and engineering
- Discover Primary Science progra
We visited Fota many times, especially in the Summer. Good to wander around, see the animals, play games or just sit by the cafe in the sunshine.
Ballincollig SupernovaBig, noisy place with lots of places to climb and stuff, plus there is a fake ice skating rink upstairs. Children's parties, stuff like that. A bit expensive but the price is for all day, and Monday – Wednesday €4.00 for U4’s and €6.00 for U12 (normally 9 euros for the day, they don't charge the adults.
Shiplake Mountain Hostel. Very good, very cheap, could go for a couple of nights in the summer? Has a place for a campfire too. Lots of chickens, cats and other critters wandering around, informal kind of place, nice atmosphere. Update: May/June €45 midweek special. Come to stay here at shiplake for 3 nights midweek and you get one night free. Choose from one of the traditional gypsy caravans, funky yurt, retro caravan or double room with bathroom. Farran Woods
Large (for Ireland) woods with playground and walks, next to the lake. A bit west of Ballincollig.
(group rates available). "The Planetarium has also proved a popular destination for school tours, and our younger audiences are fully catered for. Since the Planetarium is the only one in the Republic of Ireland, we are very happy to take groups of children and feel a definite responsibility to educate and interest the young."
The Hollies"aims to create working examples of what a sustainable society might look like in the areas of housing, energy, gardening, economics and community development."West Cork Intercultural Events
"Founder, Deborah Ni Chaoimhe is a community artist with years of experience facilitating and performing world music. By employing innovative and imaginative approaches Deborah has encouraged people from various backgrounds and abilities to discover their true potential. It is her mission to run workshops that are thought provoking, educational and fun." Website seems to be down at the moment.
This embedded map is a bit clumsy, better to go to the cork home-ed map itself.