Ostensibly designed as a child-friendly museum of Irish folklore, this is really a romper room for kids sprinkled with bits of fairy tale. Which is no bad thing, even if the picture of the leprechaun painted here is more Lucky Charms and Walt Disney than sinister creature of pre-Christian mythology.
There’s the optical illusion tunnel (which makes you appear smaller to those at the other end), the room full of oversized furniture, the wishing wells and, inevitably, the pot of gold; all of which is strictly for the kids. But if Walt Disney himself went on a leprechaun hunt when visiting Ireland during the filming of Darby O’Gill and the Little People in 1948, what the hell do we know?
The summertime Darkland Tour, a night-time storytelling session of dark and haunting tales of folklore, is a little more in keeping with the original purpose of most folklore tales – imparting moral lessons through a little bit of fear!
