Ireland Guide
The Midlands: Westmeath, Longford, Offaly and Laois
Abbeyleix
Near the southern border of Laois, the congenial market town Abbeyleix is a far preferable place for a break to the county town Portlaoise, if you're driving down the M7 and N8 towards Cashel and Cork. Of the Cistercian abbey of the name, founded in 1183, nothing remains, but the Georgian market house, terraced crescents and broad main street are still in place from the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, when the de Vesci family, former lords of Kildare, moved their estate village onto the coach road and remodelled it.
The de Vescis' former seat, Abbeyleix House, just west of town, designed by James Wyatt in the eighteenth century, isn't open to the public, but there are a few sights in and around town where you could profitably while away an afternoon. Towards the north end of the main street, the Sensory Garden (June– Sept Mon– Fri 9am–4pm, Sat & Sun 2–6pm; Oct– May Mon– Fri 10am–4pm; donation requested) sits within the walls of a former Brigidine convent. Short paths lead you around pungent, lushly planted borders and rockeries, a lotus pond and a thatched gazebo. A little further out on the same road, the town's interesting and well-designed Heritage House (May– Sept Mon– Fri 9am–5pm, Sat & Sun 1–5pm; €3; 
www.heritagehousemuseum.com ) occupies a Victorian school built by the de Vescis. Display boards relate the history of the town and county, aided by scale models of the town in the early twentieth century and of the old Cistercian abbey. A whole room is devoted to the town's famous carpet factory, which attained both apogee and nadir when its products were selected to grace the floors of the Titanic – its clerk, who'd been given a free ticket to promote the carpets in the US, went down with the ship, and the factory went out of business the same year, 1912.
Practicalities
Abbeyleix offers little choice in the way of accommodation or food, but fortunately its one hotel is very good. On the N8 on the southern edge of town, Abbeyleix Manor Hotel ( 
057/873 0111, www.abbeyleixmanorhotel.com ; Price: €120-150) is a friendly, well-run establishment, with smart, well-equipped rooms; excellent, varied food is available in either the popular bar or the restaurant. Few people leave Abbeyleix without sampling the delights of 
Morrissey's Bar, a sociable and much-loved pub-grocery just down from the market house. Seemingly unchanged since it was built in 1880, the cavernous interior is adorned with high wooden shelves, screens and pews, as well as a cosy stove for winter evenings.