Weekend break: The Lodge at Ashford Castle, Co Mayo

From zip-lining to horse riding, the scene is set for family fun, Esther N McCarthy lived it up like a movie star at Ashford Castle.

We are strolling past The Quiet Man cafe in Cong, on the Mayo-Galway border, on a stretch the legs mission before arriving to The Lodge at Ashford Castle.

Everywhere in the village, where the John Ford movie was shot in 1951, are mementos to the time Maureen O’Hara and John Wayne brought Hollywood glamour to this idyllic spot in the west.