Glencree Visitors Centre

The visitors centre at Glencree is easy to miss unless your are on the road coming up Grencree Valley.  The road which passes behind Glencree is the R115 – Glencree is about 12 miles out of Dublin.  If you are using this road to get to Glencree and you have reached the Lough Brays, (two small loughs on your right), then you have missed the turn.  Go back down the road and take the second on the right, about 5 minutes.

The main reason I talk about the R115 is this road is the main road to Sally Gap, it leads to many hill walking routes in the Wicklow Hills, and to my favorite place at Glendalough.  Therefore Glencree  Visitors centre is well placed as a stopping point for something to eat and drink after a long day hill walking.

The visitors centre is also worth visiting for itself, and many do every weekend.

The history of Glencree goes back to the 1806 when a barrack was built to protect the military road constructed by the British to subdue the native Irish.  By the 1850′s the barrack was abandoned by the Bristish and it was subsequently used as a boys reformatory school until 1940.   The centre became a temporary refugee centre for German and Polish war orphans who were fed by the Irish Red Cross.

Today the centre is a place for Peace and Reconciliation, they organise programmes with a wide varity of groups.

My main reasons for stopping there now is the great home cooked food in the cafe – try it – it is great and very reasonable.

The centre is open seven days a week from 9.30am to 5.00pm – check their website regarding local holidays.  And there is free parking.

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