Ireland Guide
Tipperary and Waterford
County Tipperary
Tipperary (Tiobraid Árann) is the wealthiest of Ireland's inland counties, deriving its prosperity from the flat and fertile plain known as the Golden Vale, which provides rich pickings for dairy farmers and horse-breeders. It's also one of the largest counties, stretching over 100km from top to toe, and, uniquely, is divided into two administrative regions, North Tipperary (formerly North Riding) and South Tipperary (formerly South Riding), each with its own county town. By far the county's most breathtaking lure is the Rock of Cashel, soaring above the town's environs, and topped by the lofty walls and towers of renowned religious edifices. To the south of Cashel, Cahirholds plenty of historical interest in the shape of an imposing thirteenth-century castle and an ornamental nineteenth-century baronial villa. In the county's far southwest, the main attraction is the idyllic Glen of Aherlow. Across this southern part of the county runs the Tipperary Heritage Way ( 
www.tipperaryway.com ), an easy 56-kilometre waymarked trail that runs down the Suir valley from Cashel to Cahir and Ardfinnan, finishing at the Vee, in the Knockmealdown Mountains near the Waterford border.