Ballyhoura Tour Guides
Ballyhoura Country Tour Guides are local community guides who have a love of their place and happy to share Ballyhoura stories with you.
All guides listed are trained and look forward to showing you all that the Ballyhoura area has to offer!
Lough Gur
Phone: 061 385 186 Web: www.loughgur.com
Lough Gur is a magical and mysterious place that is rich in folklore along with a wealth of archaeology and history dating back to Stone Age times. The Heritage Centre provides a fascinating interpretation of the sites associated with Lough Gur.
There is now a core team of trained guides who can show you the most historical sites in the area and who will pass on their knowledge to you in a friendly and informative manner. A wide variety of tours are available from general group tours held from mid-June to mid-August to more personalized tours depending on your own requirements.
Griston Bog Tours
Griston Bog is a bogland habitat 1km outside the village of Ballylanders in County Limerick. Griston is now an accredited Discover Science & Maths Centre with environmental activities that are both educational and fun.
Email: [email protected] Phone: +353 63 91300
Annette Rea
I started to work as a tour guide in Dublin as a Taxi Driver from 1990- 1998 driving our European visitors around our capital city showing and telling them our exciting and riveting history from the Viking Ireland 795-1014AD to the 1916 Easter Rising that began the route to Irish Independence.
Fate was to intervene at this stage and whether it was the Earls or Druids calling me I changed urban living for rural and ended up at the crossroads of Munster – Ballyhoura Country. I spent three years in Lough Gur Heritage Centre taking people on tours of the area where you can step back in time and experience 6,000 years of history and I was amply rewarded with visitors appreciative comments on Tripadvisor.
I am now taking primary school children on tours of Griston Bog in Ballylanders Co. Limerick. We have teamed up with Lough Gur and can now offer an exciting day tour combining history and nature. I can only describe Griston Bog as nature’s very own stunning back garden. I find history such a pleasure to teach to our children, about our past in storytelling format. This depends on taking into account their age and class year. It is a joy to watch the pleasure on their little faces. I am passionate about history and passing on our heritage to the next generation.
Kilmallock, Lough Gur, Bruff & Surrounding Areas Tours
I am a Multilingual Guide, Travel Consultant and Destination Specialist from Puglia, Italy, living in Co. Limerick with more than 15 years of experience in the tourism industry.
As an approved Failte Ireland, National Tour Guide, I am specialised in designing tailor-made itineraries to discover the Ireland of your interests and wishes.
A wine and food lover, a member of several travel associations and a previous collaborator with RAI (Italian State TV) for the making of several documentaries. Author of travel books.
Moreover, I am a qualified guide for visually impaired people.
Languages: Italian, English, Spanish, French
Kilmallock, Lough Gur, Bruff & Surrounding Areas Tours Poster
Kilmallock Tours
Kilmallock is one of Irelands best-hidden gems, a medieval walled town that is absolutely packed with fascinating historical buildings and has one of the longest stretches of remaining town walls in Ireland.
Marie Therese O Brien
Email: [email protected]
My name is Marie Therese OBrien and I am a local tour guide living near Kilmallock town, on the hill of Kilmallock wherein the 7th century a monk called Mo Cheallog setup a monastic settlement which became the origins of the town below. My family have lived in the region for well over 150 years and so I have extensive knowledge about the history and also stories of the people and sites in the Kilmallock area. I have always had an interest in history and genealogy and am especially pleased to guide in the Kilmallock area as it is a treasure trove of both local and national history down through the ages.
Maureen Lynch
Phone: 086 326 4294 Email: [email protected]
My name is Maureen Lynch. I am a retired primary school teacher. Living and working in Kilmallock, I became very interested in local history. For many years I took the senior classes on historical walks. Occasionally I was asked to assist the late Dr Mainchin Seoighe when showing French tourists the treasures of Kilmallock as I speak fluent French.
Ben O’Sullivan
Email: [email protected]
My name is Ben O Sullivan and I am a local tour guide living in Kilmallock. I have lived in the area for the last 45 years and have extensive knowledge about the history and also the stories behind the people and the sites in my area. I have a keen interest in GAA affairs, mountain walking and developing cultural tourism in Kilmallock. I can provide guided tours and can also help in searching for your ancestors, ancestral homes, graveyards or help point you in the right direction.
Caherconlish Tours
John Kennedy
Email: [email protected] Phone: 086 256 5442
My name is John Kennedy and I am a local volunteer tour guide in the Caherconlish area. The village is situated on the R 513 road between Mitchelstown and Limerick and I live on a farm just a mile away. My paternal family have lived here for generations and I have amassed a wide-ranging knowledge of the history and folklore of the area. This area has a rich heritage, with fortifications and monuments from the bronze age, early Christianity, the Norman conquest, the Elizabethan Plantation and right up to the formation of the Free State. Having been born a few years after the ending of the Second World War, I can also give a firsthand account of the extraordinary social changes that took place here, during the latter half of the twentieth century. I have a keen interest in local history and culture and I am a founder member of the Caherconlish Heritage and Historical Society. I also can help people to trace their roots in the local parishes. This can include tracing their genealogy or the location of an ancestral home or searching for a gravestone in the area. I can provide short walking tours of the village, taking in sites like the pre-reformation ruins in the cemetery, the location of King William’s camp and the ‘Cathair’ or stone fort which gave the village part of its name. I can provide transportation if required, and strong waterproof outdoor footwear is recommended. Tours can be extended to take in Lough Gur and the Grange stone circle or other areas further afield as well.
Doneraile Tours
Myra Ryall
My name is Myra Ryall and live in Doneraile village. I was born in Castlepook three miles north of Doneraile. My tour will captivate you with stories of The connection between Castlepook and the unique village of Doneraile both past and present. Experience the architecture, history and folklore of these fascinating places.I have now located my business to the village of Doneraile to be totally immersed in the place I love. My husband Ray O Callaghan is also a Tour Guide so let’s say I live, sleep and eat the place. I look forward to meeting all future visitors and passing along my knowledge of this superb place.
Eamonn Horgan
I am a local tour guide in the Doneraile area. I have lived in this area all my life. I was teaching in Doneraile for 47 years. I love the area and I have a great interest in its development. Doneraile is steeped in history that is continually unfolding. It gives me great pleasure to encourage visitors to share and enjoy the beauty of Doneraile Park and the adjacent town.
Ray O’Callaghan
My name is Ray O Callaghan I am a local tour guide based in the Beautiful Estate Village of Doneraile Co. Cork. I have lived both in the country townland of Castlepook Doneraile for many years and presently reside in the village itself for the past 10 years. My specific area of tour guiding relates to the 400-year garden history of Doneraile Court and Parklands. My wife and I both own our own Business in the Village Called Townhouse Café & Interiors.
3 County Tour Guide
Seamus Fox
A Failte Ireland guide living in Mitchelstown offering Gaelic cultural / sporting tours and demos on the 3 county borders of Cork, Tipperary and Limerick. Tours include Labbycally Megalithic Tomb at Glanworth, Liam Lynch memorial as War of Independence leader at Goatenbridge in Knockmealdowns, Mitchelstown Caves, Galtee mountain hikes, Araglin Waterfalls; St. Fanahan Abbey/ Pagan well, Mulberry Silk plantation, John Mandeville land league activist all in Mitchelstown, Fairy Houses in Darragh.
Family historian with Irish Family Search conducting Fun Family trees, homestead tours, Clan Gatherings, Citizenship application, heir hunting of lost cousins who died intestate. TV Genealogy Roadshow participant.
Display of Gaelic games, hurling, handball, road bowling, stone-throwing, weight throwing, skittles, croquet.
Contact: 087 3589734
Tours of Galtee Mountains, Mitchelstown & Kilbehenny area.
Conor O’Brien
Phone: 086 746 9756
Interests: Local history and it’s connections to European and world history; family histories; rural traditions and the residuals of old Gaelic laws in our customs. My interest is in trying to understand how this area became what it is.
Guiding visitors is a most welcome part of that learning because they ask the questions that open more views, for both themselves and me. I have been farming here all my life. The mixture of scenery and community that we have here is unique. Visitors are still people, not tourists. I guide small groups on open mountain walks in the Galtees, as well as groups interested in rural traditions, local history and its buildings. By understanding, this area’s place in history visitors are helped to understand the history of their own area. The fitness level can be as little as is needed to explore a graveyard or street or to do a trek up to 900 metres (3000 ft) level. Each walk is unique in its own way.
Kildorrery Tours
The tour of Kildorrery starts at the Community/Tourist Office on the Main Street. It is difficult to miss as it is a thatched 400-year-old building which was restored by the Community and Ballyhoura Development Ltd. in 2013.
There are also several other historical sites in the wider area which are well worth a visit such as Labbamolaga and Aghacross which are some of the earliest Christian sites in Ireland and were founded by the 7th century... and much more!
Frank McCarthy
Phone: 087 795 7229 Email: [email protected]
My name is Frank McCarthy and I am a local tour guide living in Kildorrery. I was born in this area and I have lived here for most of my life. I have extensive knowledge about the history and historical sites in my area and I can provide half-day tours. I also have a keen interest in genealogy and can help with your search for your ancestors, ancestral homes, farms, shops, graveyards etc. or maybe point you in the right direction.
Nora Curtin
Hi my name is Nora Curtin and I am a local tour guide living in Kildorrery, Co Cork for the past 12 years. Since my roots are deep in this area, I have explored its history, as well as the stories behind the people and sites in this locality. I have a great interest in helping people who are searching for their ancestors around Kildorrery and I can assist with graveyard searches as well as helping to point people in the right direction in their research.