We leave Belfast at 11.00am, breaking our journey in Enniskillen around lunch time. We arrive at our hotel in Sligo in the late afternoon with time to use the hotel’s excellent leisure facilities before dinner.

Our excursion today starts at Drumcliff churchyard where Yeats is buried, followed by a fascinating visit to the recently re-opened Lissadell House and Gardens. Frequently visited by Yeats, the house is the birth place of revolutionary Countess Markievicz and is home to one of the largest private collections of Irish art on public display in Ireland. The restored gardens, once internationally famous, exporting seeds throughout the world, feature a 2.5 acre walled Victorian kitchen garden, showcasing many heritage vegetables and fruit, as well as a two-acre seashore Alpine rockery.

We call briefly at Mullaghmore, in the shadow of Classiebawn, before returning to Sligo in the afternoon with time to explore the town or make full use of the hotel’s excellent leisure facilities before dinner.

We travel into Co. Mayo today with a visit to National Museum of Country Life (part of the Irish National Museum, Dublin), showing all aspects of life in rural Ireland. On the way back to Sligo we call at Hennigan’s Heritage Centre - “the real thing” where we meet Tom Hennigan whose family have lived on 10 acres here for 6 generations. Tom tells the story well - sometimes sad, often hilarious.

We return to the hotel with time to relax once more before dinner.

We depart Sligo just after lunchtime and head east, arriving back in Belfast around 5.00pm.