Summer at Smarmore

Last week's bank holiday weekend officially kicked off the summer here at Smarmore Castle. Saturday's weather was fantastic and is hopefully a sign of things to come over the coming three months.

Louth, Meath and the surrounding area is brimming with festivals, shows, days out and places to visit and we plan to feature plenty of the best things to do on this blog.

Here is a quick overview of what to expect in Louth:

June:

18th-19th Carlingford Oyster Pearl Race, Carlingford

19th Cooley Mountain Walk, Omeath

20th Louth Agricultural Show, Kilkerley

25-27th Drogheda Samba Festival, Drogheda

27th Blackrock Raft Race & Celebrate the Beach day, Blackrock, Dundalk

July:

3rd CuChulaiin Warrior Triathlon, Carlingford

9th Leinster Fleadh Ceoil, Dunleer

10th Carlingford Lough Endurance Challenge, Carlingford

11th Blackrock Vintage Day, Blackrock, Dundalk

12th Horse Racing at Dundalk Stadium

16th- & 17th Clogherhead Prawn Festival, Clogherhead

30th & 1st Ardee Turfman Festival, Ardee

August:

7th & 8th Annagassan Festival

7th & 8th Port Beach Triathlon, Port, Togher.

13th & 14th Drogheda Food Festival, Drogheda

14th & 15th Carlingford Oyster Festival, Carlingford

15th Blackrock Farmers Rest Day, Blackrock, Dundalk

15th Horse Racing at Dundalk Stadium

21st-29th Heritage Week- check website for local events

22nd Irish Walled Towns Day- Carlingford.

Ardee's annual turfman festival is also due to take place over the August bank holiday weekend (July 31 and August 1 & 2)

On this week in Drogheda

This Week Only

Thursday May 20th - Traditional Irish Set Dancing - Music by Triskel- McHugh's ( next to St Laurence Gate)

Thursday May 20th -Concert - Mary McPartland, Rick Epping & Aidan Brennan play Traditional, Folk , Blues - Droichead Arts Centre - 9pm

Saturday May 22nd - Altan Perform Live - Top Traditional Irish band Altan - TLT Theatre - Tickets €22 phone 041-9878560

Saturday May 22nd - Louth Open Gardens Day - Visit the gardens of Louth see

Saturday May 22nd - Volunteering Showcase in County Louth - Barbican Theatre , Drogheda 10am - 4pm

Sunday May 23rd - Leinster Senior Football Championship - Meath v Offaly 2pm Louth v Longford 3.40pm - Portlaoise

Sunday May 23rd - FBD Insurance International Cycle Ras - Passing through Slane 1.20pm, Collon 1.32pm, Ardee 1.42pm ,

Sunday May 2rd - Tullyallen Sports Day - Family Fun , Music and Games - Glen Emmetts Grounds Tullyallen

Tuesday May 25th - Madam Silk - Aerial Circus Dance Show - Droichead Arts Centre 8.30pm Adm €18/16

Wednesday May 26th - Traditional Sean Nos Singing - Droichead Arts Centre - Adm Free

Ongoing Attractions

Millmount Museum and Martello Tower - Open Monday to Saturday 9.30am - 5.30pm and on Sundays and Public Holidays 2pm -5pm

Bru na Boinne Visitor Centre -Open seven days a week from 9.30am

Battle of the Boyne Site , Oldbridge - Open seven days a week from 9.30am

Monasterboice High Crosses & Round Tower - Open all year dawn to dusk

Mellifont Abbey - Guided tours May 1st to September 30th - Access to site only for rest of year

Beaulieu House & Gardens - Open Monday- Friday ( May & June) 11am -5pm see www.beaulieu.ie

Highlanes Gallery - Monday to Saturday 10.30am - 5pm Current Exhibition - The Marienbad Palace Curated by Jacqui McIntosh see www.highlanes.ie

Funtasia Waterworld - Open Daily from 10am

Funtasia Fun Park , Bettystown - Open Daily from 10am

Newgrange Farm - Open daily from Saturday April 3rd - August 31st

Red Mountain Farm (Donore ) open daily

more details available at http://www.drogheda.ie/cms/publish/events/article_1547.php

Also a guide to "What's On In The Pubs " http://www.drogheda.ie/cms/publish/events/article_1547.php

Special Midweek Rates for May

To celebrate the castle's appearance on RTE's "At Your Service"

we are offering a special midweek offer for May

Two nights - 89 Euros per adult

Children (5 -17) - one night 15 Euros, two nights 29 Euros

Children under 4 - free
Prices include accommodation, breakfast and full use of our leisure club

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Leisure Club - New Reduced Summer Rates

Why not check out our new reduced leisure club rates today.

Full yearly membership now costs less than 10 Euros per week.

We have introduced a very attractive series of packages for families. Just the thing to keep your children occupied as we head into the summer holidays. We will be introducing a new junior water aerobics class from this Wednesday May 5th.

Join us on Facebook

The castle and leisure club now has a FACEBOOK page. Check it out today and become our friend.

Great performance of our fit again 4

Gerry Kelly’s column in some of this weeks local papers highlighted the great performance of our four “get fit again in 2010″ volunteers.The rather banal headline “King Peter beats target” hid the story of Margaret, Mary, Peter and Jack who all succeeded in losing weight and improving their fitness levels over the 10 weeks of the challenge. Peter managed to lose almost 3 stone by exercising regularly and cutting out all the junk food from his life.
We will be publishing full details f how he did it on our leisure club blog in the next few days.

Happy Easter

On behalf of everyone here at the castle I would like to wish a very happy Easter to all our guests and friends around the world.

LMFM four get results

After 10 weeks of exercise and dedicated training our four volunteers from the LMFM afternoon show had their final weigh in this afternoon. Mary, Peter and Margaret were weighed by Gareth in the LMFM studio while Jack had his on Wednesday. We were delighted that everyone lost weight and Peter managed to lose an impressive 3 stone.

Gerry Kelly interviewed the participants and Gareth live on air. Everyone said that they were feeling better after the experience and wanted to keep on working on their fitness levels.