Ireland Guide
Around Dublin: Wicklow, Kildare and Meath
The National Stud
Address: Based at Tully on the south side of Kildare, a well-signposted 2km from the town centre
Telephone: 045/522963
Website: www.irish-national-stud.ie
Opening time: Mid-Feb to mid-Nov daily 9.30am–6pm, last admission 5pm; mid-Nov to Christmas daily 10am–5pm, last admission 3.30pm
Price: €10
The National Stud shows the highly evolved business of horse breeding in action. Here, you can look round the stables themselves and stroll through two attractive on-site gardens (included in the admission price); try to time your visit to coincide with one of the entertaining, free guided tours, which run at least three times daily from mid-February until mid-November, thereafter on request.
Within the attractive grounds, with their various yards, paddocks and stallion boxes, you can watch traditional saddlers and farriers at work. But the highlight of the tour has to be the horses themselves. They include fallabellas from Argentina, the smallest horses in the world (above pony height), as well as top stallions who command up to €75,000 for what's quaintly called a live cover and who jet as far afield as Australia to mate with local mares. From February until July, you should be able to see mares and their young foals in the paddocks.