|
The Monaghan County Tourism Office offers
dozens of brochures on local attractions. A 28-page full colour angler’s guide
is a “trophy” in itself. Another offers Failte (welcome) to the Patrick
Kavanaugh Centre in Inniskeen. Perhaps you’re not familiar with this beloved
poet of rural Ireland. “Twilight through the coloured windows played on that
congregation but could not smooth the parchment faces, skin the colour of clay,
and clay in their hair and clothes.”
Your holiday material need not be confined
to fishing and poetry. There is info available on a world class equestrian
centre at Glaslough, legendary lace at Carrickmacross and Clones, challenging
ambles at Sliagh Beagh and Rossmore, and Rally School Ireland at Scotstown.
Yes, visitors can drive a Subaru Impreza Turbo on a rally stage as fast
as....well, the instructor will allow.
But this spacious office with its excellent
staff occupies only a small part of the €8.5 million Monaghan Leisure Complex
that opened in August 2006. An American reader might not easily grasp the
import of the term “Leisure Complex” but the locals who complained briefly
during replacement of the old facility are justly proud of their new one. It
now features a 25m, 6-lane indoor pool, kid’s pool, sauna, steam room, Jacuzzi,
giant flume (water slide), fully-equipped gym, and 20 studio classes per week.
David Moore, the University trained Club Manager, has put together a staff and
range of activities that will interest the broadest range of leisure appetites.
One that’s sure to appeal to children, not to mention their parents, is the
kid’s summer day camp, offered two weeks in July, two in August for ages
5-15. Daily activities include a variety
of supervised games, contests, lessons, crafts, and team sports too numerous to
list here. The two tennis courts are seldom idle, even in a light drizzle. The
bouncy castle will delight adults but only as spectators. Children eagerly
remove their shoes to take their turns springing around its cushy confines.
With an emphasis on exercise, healthy nutrition, and fun, the complex has
something for everyone, from toddlers to the parents and grandparents who bring
them.
How
to get there:
From Dublin, take N2. From Belfast, N3 to
Monaghan Town. From Monaghan Town take N54, Clones Road, 1km west on left
Opening
times:
MWF, 7:00 am to 10:00 pm
TTh,
9:00 am to 10:00 pm
S/S
9:00 am to 5:00 pm
Admission
Fees:
Daily swim/gym (adult, pay as you go,
€6.50; child, € 3.50)
Summer camp €70 per child per week
Address:
Monaghan Leisure Complex
Clones Road
Monaghan Town, Co. Monaghan
T: 047 81734
www.coralleisure.ie/monaghan
Written by Joy Davis - Summer of Travel 2007
|
