THE Wicklow Mountains National Park south-east of Dublin is renowned for its natural beauty and hiking areas.
Many people would have seen County Wicklow on the big and small screen but may not have realised. The area has its own film commission, liaising with big-name film directors and location scouts, and as a result, many popular films have been shot on location here. Among them are Braveheart, Michael Collins and Excalibur, and each if these now has a designated tourist trail.
PS I Love You (Gerard Butler and Hilary Swank), My Left Foot (Daniel Day Lewis), King Arthur (Clive Owen and Keira Knightly), Becoming Jane (Anne Hathaway and James McAvoy) and Lassie are among the more notable films using the jaw-dropping mountain, lake and forest settings of the rural countryside.
But the purpose of our visit was to walk in the footsteps of actors Amy Adams and Matthew Goode in one of my favourite films - a silly little rom-com called Leap Year. And while we overshot the mark and missed the pretty Victorian town called Enniskerry where the couple sleep at the bus stop on the way to Dublin, my favourite scene - the wedding- was filmed at Upper Lake at Glendalough.
On another "scorcher" of a summer's day in Ireland, we saw why this national park area is worth preserving.
Heaven.
But to prove I don't have it all my own way on this trip, we made a stop at the Irish National Stud, about 45 minutes' drive south-west of Dublin, for my horse-mad husband. County Kildare is the heart of Ireland's thoroughbred industry. Horses have been bred here for almost 1000 years since the Black Abbey reared horses most likely for the crusades.
This working stud farm in Tully has been producing champions in races at home and abroad since Minoru, one of the first horses born and raised here which was victorious in the prestigious Epsom Derby in 1909.
A walk around the paddocks and the Japanese Gardens, the lakes and St Fiachra's Garden are a pleasant way to spend an afternoon in the sun, with a shady picnic or bite to eat in the cafe afterwards. But a last-minute question asked of a tour guide gave us a real thrill beore heading out the gates. We had relived Vintage Crop's breakthrough win in the Melbourne Cup in 1993 (he was the first Irish horse to make the long journey acoss the globe and win) at the on-site museum.
We wondered whether he was still alive.
"Sure," the guide said.
"He's in the retired horses' paddock. Go down this road and to the right. You can't miss him. He always stands next to the dark-coloured companion horse."
Within minutes, we found him in the back corner. Sure enough, he was next to his little mate. We recognised him by the distinctive white diamond on his face. A photo on the paddock fence shows him on his biggest day of his career.
Lesson of the day: Keep the GPS on for the entire trip.
Today's going-round-in-circles count: 2
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