My wife & I recently toured the west of Ireland. Having visited 21 countries outside the USA, I would rank Ireland dead last in terms of cuisine. Oddly enough, our best meal came not at a small place where the locals dine, but at the Mitchell Henry Restaurant at Kylemore Abbey, which caters solely to the hordes of tourists who arrive there by car or tour bus.

Kylemore Abbey is a beautiful site as you view it across the still waters of its lake, whilst driving along the approach road. We bought our tickets which enabled us to enter The Victorian Walled Garden, then a small (but interesting) part of the Abbey which is at the moment a school for boarders, but this year it is to cease operating as a school due to a lack of Nuns, now in this teaching order. There are two other buildings we could have visited further along the lakeside - a Neo-Gothic church & a Mausoleum -BUT by that time we were so badly bitten by the swarms of Midgies which abound everywhere there by the lake and trees that all we wanted to do was to climb back into a sealed up vehicle and get away from there as fast as possible. The Victorian Walled Garden which we first visitied was just smothered with one vast thick cloud of these tiny biting little Midgies and within 5 minutes our bodies were crawling with them. Everyone was frantically swinging their arms and hands to try to ward off these insects but to no avail.
We spent the following 3 or 4 days in agony with the big red bites driving us crazy through itching.
So be warned - take plenty of insect repellent spray with you and use it generously before you visit here. Maybe better also take take some ointment or roll-on Bite or Sting cure to be doubly safe!

My family and I visited Kylemore Abbey in May this year. I was very disappointed in the cost of the entrance fee. I understand that money is needed for the upkeep and maintainence but I have found that if there is a donations box at the door people will give. When we visited a lot of visitors that we spoke too outside the Abbey refused to go in due to the high entrance charge but if it was donations they would have given some money: therefore the Abbey missed out on their donations.

From the approching road, this is a stunning castle set amongst breathtaking scenery. Unfortunatley what you experience inside the abbey is quite different. There is access to 4 rooms only at ground floor level, where there seems to have very little attempt to restore them to their former glory (or maintain them for that matter), with original wall papering coming off the walls and an overall air of neglect. We were suprised initally by the €12 per adult entrance fee and after we had seen the abbey we felt even more short changed. My advise is take your pictures from the road or the carpark and dont ruin the experience for your self. Disappointing...