thanks for subscribing to the Enjoy Irish Culture e-zine and welcome. This is our July edition highlighting some of the pages we have added to our website over the last month.

We have a new series of articles on the history of the Irish Big House. What is a big house? Like with medieval castles, Ireland is awash with them. They are stunning,posh,elaborately furnished residences built by the upper classes starting from around 1690 when medieval castles finally went out of fashion in Ireland. Some big houses are referred to as castles. But these are not defended castles. Rather, at this stage, people took to displaying their wealth. And this, they did very well. In our series of articles, find out about their lifestyle, and find out how their servants fared, and join us on a visit to one of the most famous big houses, Strokestown House which had a role to play during the Irish Famine...

Enjoy, and have a lovely week and a wonderful month of July! Come visit us often and learn something new about Irish culture each time. Slán and see you again soon.

Regards, Colm and Susanna