Coole Park

Augusta, Lady Gregory, ran Coole as the effective headquarters of the Irish Literary Revival. Yeats spent summers here for twenty years and wrote The Wild Swans at Coole about the lake; Sean O'Casey, John Millington Synge, George Bernard Shaw, Douglas Hyde and Jack B Yeats all stayed. She co-founded the Abbey Theatre and translated the Irish sagas into the Kiltartan dialect of the district. The house was sold to the state after her death in 1932 and demolished in 1941 for the value of its materials, which is the central fact of any visit - there is a rectangle of foundations where it stood. What survives is the autograph tree, a copper beech in the walled garden carved with the initials of the visitors, protected now behind railings, and the seven woods, the turlough and the lake with its swans. The visitor centre covers Gregory and the Revival.

What you actually see

• The autograph tree - a copper beech carved with the Revival writers' initials.
• The house foundations - the outline of what was demolished in 1941.
• The lake and turlough - the water of The Wild Swans at Coole.
• The seven woods - the walks Yeats named in his poems.

When to go

April to September for the visitor centre, which is seasonal; the grounds and trails are open year-round. The turlough fills and empties with the season, so the lake changes considerably.

Honest expectations

The house is entirely gone - visitors expecting a country house are disappointed. The autograph tree is behind railings and hard to read. The visitor centre is seasonal. Parking is charged though entry is free.

Nearby

Thoor Ballylee is a short drive; Kilmacduagh and Gort are close.