Everyone’s a little Irish on St Patrick’s Day, and celebrating with a party, wherever you are in the world, is a method we most approve of. Our favourite guest blogger Gerry Britt reveals his recipes for a successful St Patrick’s Day party. I moved to Virginia in February, 1995. St. Patrick’s Day soon rolled around [...]

“There is a sense that something big is on the horizon”, says Belfast author Susie Millar. I’ve asked her about the atmosphere in the city at the moment. Belfast of course built the legendary Titanic and plans to mark the 100-year anniversary with nothing less than a festival, firework-laced opening of a Titanic visitor centre [...]

Ready for a party? You’d want to be if you’re planning on coming here. There’s always a festival around the bend in Ireland, usually closely followed by bunting, dancing, eating, singing and most definitely laughing.  Scanning our calendar, or indeed walking into our major towns half the time, you’d probably think we put on a [...]

St Patrick’s Day is a day of pride, heritage and celebration. It’s the day the whole world channels the fun and merriment of Ireland in their own way whether dressing up Leprechaun style, dying an entire river green or just chomping on a novelty green bagel for lunch. So, I think you can understand that [...]

Ah, the pub. Cornerstone of community, culture and craic. Den of shoulder rubbing and bad joking. Where live music and lively chat intersect at a smooth mahogany bar. It’s more than occasionally true that our version of ‘one-horse’ towns are in fact ‘one-church one-shop three-pub’ towns. And it’s always the pubs that will be full, noisy [...]

Sitting just outside the capital county of Dublin is Kildare, with its strong horsey and golfing ties. However there’s more to the lily white county than just magnificent stud farms (deemed worth a visit by the Queen of England, no less) and award-winning links courses… I’m talking awe-inspiring landscapes, beautiful stately homes and a very [...]

They told her it couldn’t be done: driving from Dublin to the Cliffs of Moher, then to Galway and Donegal and back to Dublin. All in one weekend. And on the wrong side of the road. Seattle student Caitlyn Johnson recounts her roadtrip of a lifetime around Ireland… It began, in our minds at least, [...]

Christmas means… family, presents, chocolate, consuming triple our usual daily calorie intake, fake smiles unwrapping another box of bath salts, cooing over new babies, shaking our heads at how the others have grown, watching Jimmy Stewart tell us It’s a Wonderful Life for the fiftieth time. Christmas means something different to every person. So we [...]

It’s winter, it’s cold; which means if you’re David Fallon, you go on frost-edged walks around Northern Ireland. However, your other trusted blogger has very different plans for the shivering season. For me, winter means a guilt-free Bailey’s Coffee by a big fire, watching snow fall through a tinsel-edged Georgian window and humming along to [...]

Christmas in Ireland sounds like this: “We’ll see ya in Mooney’s after midnight mass. Wait’ll you see the bar staff covered in tinsel, I got a piece of it in my hot whiskey the other night!” “Ah, Sean, all the way from Boston for Christmas! Bet your mammy’s delighted.” “After the size of Christmas dinner [...]