Peter Dowdall says the West Cork Garden Trail offers inspiring examples of community work

Hidden away on the Beara peninsula is one of our last remaining rainforests, discovers Carl Dixon.

Take a stroll through Ireland’s majestic gardens with Donal Hickey.

Kya deLongchamps encourages a wide-eyed spring ramble around three of the many heritage gardens of Ireland.

At one time, our rivers and streams had abundant eel stocks and, as boys, we can remember turning over stones in attempts to catch slippery eels, writes Donal Hickey.

A 160-year-old subtropical garden on the Skellig coast in South Kerry has installed a “skywalk”, reportedly the country’s longest rope bridge.

An independent TD says cans of hairspray are not to blame for the hole in the ozone layer.

Kerry TD Danny Healy-Rae again challenged scientists yesterday and blamed climate change on erupting volcanoes and comets.

Do take a look at the West Cork Garden Trail’s websiteas they are suggesting a number of interesting trip combinations for viewing of the various Gulf Stream gardens dotted all over the coast of West Cork. 

Shoppers raided grocery and hardware shops, bishops excused Catholics from Mass, and the capital shut down ahead of a snow storm that will blanket much of the Eastern US this weekend.

People often wonder what use are economists. In terms of climate change, this is a particularly appropriate question.

A West Cork retreat offers women the chance to indulge in personal reflection and fine food, writes Colette Sheridan.

Bill Linnane is so passionate about whiskey that he decided to take up the opportunity of a two-day course at the Whiskey Academy of Dingle Distillery. He reports below...

Tommy Barker finds that New England style, sea views and a gourmet food shop next door make for a great blend on Bantry’s Golden Mile.

From the Burren to the Cliffs of Moher, Tony Clayton-Lea is stone mad for the charms of Co Clare.

BATLIFE Europe has chosen Nathusius’ pipistrelle as ‘Bat of the Year’ for 2015, writes Richard Collins.

ON a visit to the royally-endorsed English Market, in Cork, globetrotting TV chef Rick Stein was pulled, as if by magnetic force, to the seafood corner, as are many.

WE lost the run of ourselves in Ireland for a number of years, didn’t we? 

LARGE amounts of water flowing into the North Atlantic from melting Polar ice caps, as a result of global warming, could have serious consequences for growing conditions along our south and west coasts.

West Cork woodland takes on the appearance of a jungle in the Chilean highlands with Orange-bark myrtles growing to 50 or more feet in height, and wild-seeding themselves on the forest floor.

Balllickey, West Cork

Ireland has been hit with extreme snowfall as far back as the 9th century, according to a RTÉ documentary.

A small island off the north coast of Ireland has emerged as an unlikely potential supplier of edible seaweed to Japan — a country whose own stocks have been hit by the Fukushima nuclear disaster.

A small island off the north coast of Ireland has emerged as an unlikely potential supplier of edible seaweed to Japan – a country whose own stocks have been hit by the Fukushima nuclear disaster.

IN Maine, on the western shores of the Atlantic, daffodils were blooming with the same enthusiasm as on our eastern shores a month ago.

THIS year, the number of elvers swimming up UK rivers and waterways was 20 times the norm of recent decades. This is good news.

Thinking about how I would try to fill the shoes of my predecessor on this page has driven me to distraction. So I have decided not to.

PARADISE is a relative term.

IN the days when youngsters spent seemingly endless time fishing for brown trout, they would sometimes catch an eel, of which there was a plentiful supply in our lakes and rivers.

THE flooding that devastated parts of Cork and other places was unexpected, coming as it did in the final days of June.

A 49-year-old grandmother and veteran endurance swimmer had to give up on her quest yesterday to become the first woman to swim unaided from Cuba to the Florida Keys, unable to close the gap on the last 26 miles of a more than 100-mile ocean odyssey.

MANY unsuspecting neighbours are oblivious to what may be happening in the house next door to them.

On the first day of spring folklore fan Margaret Neylon examines the signs our ancestors used to predict the weather

NEW YEAR’S Resolution: walk more.

ALREADY, “experts” have been warning us of equally severe weather to come this winter.

THIS may come to be known as the sunless summer.

IRELAND is being warned to brace itself for yet another harsh winter.