From Europe’s most breathtakingly beautiful eighteenth century buildings to the longest defined coastal route in the world, Ireland is a country brimming with extraordinary natural and built heritage. This programme offers you the opportunity for unique behind the scenes experiences working alongside heritage specialists, gaining privileged access to collections at key heritage sites in Ireland.

On Sunday 4th June we will meet in Belfast city. Belfast is a vibrant modern city with a fascinating past and a wealth of arts and culture to offer visitors. We will travel by coach to Strangford Lough. The shores of Strangford Lough are dotted with ruined castles, soaring towers and grand homes. Both an Area of Outstanding Beauty and an Area of Special Scientific Interest, Strangford Lough is one of the most richly bio-diverse regions in Europe, with over 2,000 marine species spread across 150km².

 On Monday 5th June and Tuesday 6th June we will visit the glorious Castle Ward where we will focus on design and interpretation in relation to the house and conservation of the environment on the estate. ‘Castle Ward is a marvelously eccentric house built in 1762 for Bernard Ward, later 1st Viscount Bangor. The entrance façade to the east and the interiors immediately behind it are solidly Palladian. However, Lady Anne, Ward’s wife, favoured the Gothick, and so the garden front and the rooms to the west all feature pointed doors and plaster vaulting. You will also have the opportunity to visit the Titanic Belfast experience.

On Wednesday 7th June we will go behind the scenes at Mount Stewart, a delightful 19th-century house and garden in County Down where we will be finding out about collections management and youth programming. The house and its contents reflect the history of the Vane-Tempest-Stewart family, who played a leading role in British and Irish social and political life. In the afternoon you will have time to explore the heritage sites of Belfast.

On Thursday 8th June we will visit the Giant’s Causeway to explore issues of sustainable tourism. ‘The wonderful Giant's Causeway is an area of about 40,000 interlocking basalt columns, the result of an ancient volcanic fissure eruption. The tops of the columns form stepping stones that lead from the cliff foot and disappear under the sea. Most of the columns are hexagonal, although there are also some with four, five, seven or eight sides. Much of the Giant's Causeway and Causeway Coast World Heritage Site is today owned and managed by the National Trust and it is one of the most popular tourist attractions in Northern Ireland.

On Friday 9th June we will also explore the iconic ruin of Dunluce Castle (another Game of Thrones location) which bears witness to a long and tumultuous history. First built on the dramatic coastal cliffs of north County Antrim by the MacQuillan family around 1500, the earliest written record of the castle was in 1513.

On Friday 9th June we will also be meeting the specialist staff at The Tower Museum which is a compelling heritage site with permanent exhibitions at the museum include the Story of Derry and An Armada Shipwreck - La Trinidad Valencera.  The museum also boasts the only open-air viewing facility in the heart of the city centre with stunning panoramic views of the city and River Foyle.

On Saturday 10th June we will explore the Céide Fields. The remarkable neolithic site at Céide Fields in County Mayo, contains the oldest known stone-walled fields in the world – dating back nearly 6,000 years. We will be able to experience the Céide Fields Interpretative Centre, which received the Gold Medal Award from the RIAI and now attracts visitors from all over the world.

On Sunday 11th June we will reach the beautiful Strokestown Park House is an 18th century mansion in Co. Roscommon that retains its original furnishings and documents. This evocative estate is a capsule in time showcasing an Irish ‘Big House’ and Georgian Ireland in its purest form. We will meet the archivist at The National Famine Museum which displays the most significant papers and artefacts documenting the history of this crucial period in Irish history.

On Tuesday 13th June and Wednesday 14th June we are based at Muckross House.  Muckross House was designed by the Scottish architect William Burn and completed in 1843 for Henry Arthur Herbert and his wife, the water-colourist Mary Balfour Herbert. The House is presented to the public by the Trustees of Muckross House (a charity), in partnership with the Department of Arts, Culture and the Gaeltacht.  Here we will glimpse behind the scenes at the work of Muckross House Research Library, which is responsible for collections care within the House, the Library and on Muckross Traditional Farms.

We will also explore Muckross Traditional Farms is an open-air museum comprised of three actual working farms depicting local rural life during the period of the 1930s and 1940s. Here we will consider the interpretation of rural life and the difficulties of conserving ‘working’ collections. Finally, we will visit Muckross Bookbindery and paper Conservation Workshop, where you will learn about paper conservation first hand from the resident paper conservator.

Muckross House is set within Killarney National Park near the town of Killarney, County Kerry, was the first national park in Ireland, created when Muckross Estate was donated to the Irish Free State in 1932. The park has since been substantially expanded and encompasses over 102.89 km2 of diverse ecology, including the beautiful Lakes of Killarney, oak and yew woodlands of international importance, and mountain peaks.

On Thursday 15th June we will be meeting the Shelswell -White family at Bantry House, ancestral home of the Earls of Bantry situated overlooking the magnificent Bantry Bay in West Cork. We will also be visiting Molly Gallivan’s 200 year old Cottage & Traditional farm which is a a family run Visitor Centre. We will be taking part in their heritage taste tour.

On Friday 16th June we will move on to Fota House which is Ireland’s finest example of Regency architecture with superb neoclassical interiors and a beautiful collection of paintings and drawings considered to be the finest collections of landscape painting outside the National Gallery of Ireland. There we will meet the Head of Collections and Interpretation for the Irish Heritage Trust to find out about the challenges and opportunities they are experiencing.

On Saturday 17th June we are delighted to be able to work alongside the professional team at Castletown House and Gardens which is Ireland's largest and earliest Palladian-style estate. It was built between 1722 and 1729 for William Connolly, speaker of the Irish House of Commons and the wealthiest commoner in Ireland. The façade was almost certainly designed by the Italian architect Alessandro Galilei. We will visit Castletown House to explore the beautiful 18th-century parklands, with river walks, a temple and the remains of a bathing house.

On Saturday 17th June we will also be experiencing Newgrange which is an extraordinary prehistoric monument in County Meath. It is an exceptionally grand passage tomb built during the Neolithic period, around 3200 BC, making it older than Stonehenge and the Egyptian pyramids.

On Monday 19th June we will travel from Dublin to meet the Slazenger family at Powerscourt House which was a 68-room mansion completed in 1741. Tragedy struck in 1974 when Powerscourt House was burned to the ground in a huge fire. The Slazenger family set about saving the estate. In addition to the gardens, waterfall and restored folly known as Pepperpot Tower, Powerscourt now encompasses a commercial nursery, garden centre, golf club and courses, holiday apartments, conference rooms and a wedding marquee.

On Monday 19th June we will also visit Glendalough, home to one of the most important monastic sites in Ireland. This early Christian monastic settlement was founded by St. Kevin in the 6th century and from this developed the “Monastic City”. Most of the buildings that survive today date from the 10th through 12th centuries. Despite attacks by Vikings over the years.

On Tuesday 20th June are delighted to be meeting the specialist staff in the National Archives of Ireland. Occupying a key position in the cultural and intellectual life of the nation, the National Archives of Ireland holds the records of the modern Irish State which document its historical evolution and the creation of the national identity. It has custody of archives relating to the administration of the state from the late 18-century to the late 20th-century, and many other archives dating from the 14th-century to the late 20th-century.

Finally, on Tuesday 20th June, we will also be visiting the unique Book of Kells exhibition at Trinity College in Dublin. This is Ireland’s greatest cultural treasure and the world’s most famous medieval manuscript. Written around the year 800 AD, the Book of Kells contains a richly decorated copy of the four gospels in a Latin text.

On the morning of Wednesday 21st June we have a special session at EPIC- the Irish Emigration Museum with the museum’s senior staff. Over the centuries more than 10 million people emigrated from Ireland – at EPIC we will find out why they left, where they went and how they shaped the world. We will focus on the fantastic digital resources held at the sight. The museum was founded on the belief that emigration is one of the most interesting ways to fully understand a country.