Cahir Castle and Town, County Tipperary, Ireland

Cahir (pronounced 'care') makes a terrific afternoon trip out of Cashel. The castle-complete with a moat- is especially nice for children as it sits on a small island and both the grounds and the castle are very open and perfect for exploring.

Once inside the main keep you can enter the castle through a rather sinister looking portcullis.

You can walk on the battlements, explore the upper levels of the castle or imagine dining in the great hall. Across the outer ward are the residence cottages, built after the main castle, also available to explore. This is a great stop for wandering through a castle on your own as it feels like (almost) nothing is off limits. You really get a feel for what it could have been like to live there.

The village of Cahir is lovely. It looks just like you imagine all Irish towns look. Perfect.

And if you enjoy antiquing you will be overjoyed. Cahir is full of antique shops. We saw absolutely amazing things here. We spent a lot of time "furnishing" our imaginary manor. Brenna especially liked this 18th century fish tank.