“Bunratty Folk Park” sounds awful, but is actually quite worthwhile, especially from the photographic aspect. It consists of the Castle and a variety of buildings that have been relocated from different parts of Ireland and rebuilt, including a church! There are shops, bars, workshops, farm buildings, a grand house, cottages – you get the picture. They even have actors playing the parts of “inhabitants” of a few locations, they’re both interesting and photogenic.
Start with the castle, but be prepared to climb several floors by narrow spiral staircases. You may find fill-in or indirect flash useful in some places, or go with a slower exposure if you’ve got a steady hand (or a tripod/minipod). Only the two main halls are large (and high!), the rest are relatively smaller. You can climb up onto the main level of the castle and get a 360 panorama, if you’re careful with the overlaps between images. I did at least three shots for each of the four available sides of the tower.
A lunch stop at Adare (the Visitors Centre’s Dove restaurant is OK) gives you the chance to shoot the well-known thatched cottages and church interior at the beginning of the village coming from Limerick. Most of these have been converted into businesses, but still remain colourful and picturesque. The main part of the town is beyond the church, best there isn’t too much to photograph, although the “Garda” station can make a shot.
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