Ireland Guide
Cork
Fota Island
As you travel from the mainland by rail or road, you're hardly aware that Fota is an island in Cork Harbour. Its main attraction is Fota House (April– Sept Mon– Sat 10am–5pm, Sun 11am–5pm; Oct– March daily 11am–4pm; €5.50; Heritage Island; 
www.fotahouse.com ), an elegant, mostly early-nineteenth-century hunting lodge built for the Barry family, whose main seat had by then moved from nearby Barryscourt Castle to Castlelyons near Fermoy. The highlights of the house are the entrance hall, a beautifully symmetrical space divided by striking ochre columns of scagliola (imitation marble), and the ceiling of the dining room, with its gilded plasterwork birds and musical instruments and delicately painted cherubs and floral motifs. Before visiting the servants' quarters and their impressive octagonal game-larder, be sure to catch the audiovisual in the study, which explains such features as the gaps at the top of the windows of the butler's servery – added so that food smells would tantalize the poor servants rather than the house guests. There's a nice little café in the billiard room, where you can refresh yourself before pressing on to the estate's internationally significant arboretum (same times as house; free), laid out in the mid-nineteenth century. At its best in April and May, it hosts a wide range of exotic trees and shrubs, with many rare examples, including some magnificent Lebanese cedars, a Victorian fernery and a lush, almost tropical lake.
In the former estate of Fota House, Fota Wildlife Park (mid-March to Oct Mon– Sat 10am–6pm, Sun 11am–6pm; Nov to mid-March Mon– Sat 10am–4.30pm, Sun 11am–4.30pm; last admission 1hr before closing; €12.50, children €8, family ticket €50; www.fotawildlife.ie ) is renowned for its success in breeding cheetahs, which, along with monkeys, giraffes, bison and many other species, wander about in seventy acres of open countryside. There's a train tour (€2) with guided commentary to help you make the most of it.