Ireland Guide
Around Dublin: Wicklow, Kildare and Meath
County Kildare
In contrast to the harsh landscape of the Wicklow Mountains to the east, County Kildare (Cill Dara; 
www.kildare.ie ) is prosperous farming country, which was gladly seized and fortified by the English as part of the medieval Pale. Rich pasture for cattle and horses in the north of the county gives way to fertile ploughland in the south, the Bog of Allen in the northwest providing the only unproductive blot on the landscape. The county's main attractions for visitors are neatly concentrated in two areas. Servicing the bloodstock farms on the Curragh's lush heathland, Kildare town is generally a low-key affair, especially now that the M7 bypass has opened. Here you can see what all the equine fuss is about at the fascinating National Stud. Hard by the university town of Maynooth, in the rapidly expanding commuter belt on the county's northern edge, is one of Ireland's finest stately homes, Castletown.