Those considering Béal Na Mbuillí for a culture-focused stay will find insights into the history of the house and its gardens at Strokestown Park. The National Famine Museum is dedicated to the Great Irish Famine; the National Famine Way links remembrance with a long walking and cycling route. These different focuses can help with planning: you can concentrate on the house and museum, set aside time for the gardens or consider the route as a project in its own right.

The Great Irish Famine at the Museum

The National Famine Museum presents the parallel worlds of the aristocratic landowners of Strokestown Park and their tenants during the Great Irish Famine. Original documents give visitors the opportunity to hear the voices of people connected with the Strokestown Park estate. Documents from the Strokestown Park Famine Archive can be viewed in the museum; the archive contains one of the world's most significant collections of documents relating to the Famine.

Displays, along with audio, audiovisual and touchscreen features, bring the content to life. A family activity guide is also available. Audio guides are offered in English, Irish, French, Spanish, German and Mandarin. As the languages offered may change, check their current availability before your trip.

The House's History and Distinctive Details

The Georgian Palladian mansion at Strokestown Park is a living document of its time and offers insights into very different Irish worlds. A one-hour guided tour introduces the house, its inhabitants and their dramatic stories. Check in advance whether the tour is available on the date of your visit. One distinctive feature of the house is the gallery kitchen: it is the last of its kind in Ireland.

The museum documents and the rooms of the mansion offer different ways into the past: here, the focus is on voices from the time of the Famine; there, it is on the house and the different worlds it illustrates. If you would like to explore both subjects in more depth, you can plan for them separately during your stay rather than assigning the same amount of time to everything.

Walled Gardens and Woodland

Strokestown Park has 6 acres of walled gardens and mature woodland. The gardens include one of Ireland's longest herbaceous borders, a lush fernery and a Victorian rose garden. The names of the individual areas already suggest different ways to enjoy a visit: perennials, ferns and roses sit alongside the park's woodland.

The historic gardens and woodland host a year-round programme of family-friendly events, talks, tours and art installations exploring the design and history of the gardens. If you would like to plan around a particular event, check its date against the current programme before your trip.

National Famine Way: Remembrance and a Long Route

The National Famine Way is a 165 km marked walking and cycling route. It starts at the commemorative glass wall by Strokestown Park House and the National Famine Museum. From there, the route connects Strokestown Park with Rowan Gillespie's Famine Memorial at Custom House Quay in Dublin and follows the Royal Canal. It commemorates the forced emigrant march of 1847, which is associated with Strokestown.

For wayfinding along the route, there is clear signage, a map produced by Ordnance Survey Ireland, digital interpretation resources and a passport or guide. Its length makes the National Famine Way quite different from the one-hour house tour: it is a walking and cycling experience in its own right, and can be given a different priority in your plans from a visit to the house, museum or gardens.

Plan Your Stay

When choosing accommodation and deciding how much time to set aside, it is worth deciding on your main focus first: the house's history and museum documents, the gardens or the National Famine Way. The one-hour guided tour gives you a specific timeframe to work with. Also check in advance whether the audio guide is available in your preferred language, as well as the dates of any tours or events you may want to attend.

Discover more destinations: Elphin, Ballintober, Cootehall, Ballinlough, Termonbarry, Lisacul, Roscommon, Tulsk

For the overview of the wider trip: County Roscommon.