Music, Arts & Irish Culture

Every October 31st, all over the world, Halloween is celebrated in some shape or form. At Halloween, the Japanese celebrate a Buddhist tradition called O-bon. It’s a festival which honours the spirits of deceased family members and ancestors, with many people using this day to visit loved ones graves with gifts. In Germany, people put away their knives on Halloween night. The reason is to ensure that spirits don’t get harmed upon their return to Earth. Halloween is known as El Dia De Los Muertos amongst Spanish-speaking nations.

Discover Boyne Valley was delighted to be able to organise a visit by Henry McKean from Newstalk Radio to the Boyne Valley on Thursday 22nd July.

Drogheda is the gateway to the Boyne Valley and one of the oldest towns in Ireland. Its many heritage sites, museums, galleries, hotels, and restaurants lends itself to being a must visit destination this summer.  Read on and we will tell you why…

Historic Drogheda:

Sarah Slattery, aka The Travel Expert, recently compiled a list of '5 Family Activity Breaks Less Than An Hour From Dublin', featuring the Boyne Valley. 

"From glamping to greenways, castles to cruises, I’ve got five family activity breaks close to Dublin for the perfect overnight adventure."

Today for Meet the Members we’re looking at the Conyngham Arms Hotel in Slane.

The Conyngham Arms Hotel is a beautifully-restored 18th Century coaching inn, set in the heart of historic Slane village in Co. Meath. The village is surrounded by heritage and culture an the hotel is the perfect base to explore nearby Newgrange, the Boyne Valley and Ireland's Ancient East.

 What’s better than sitting on the banks of the Boyne on a summer’s day? Not much, unless you were sitting there with music legend David Bowie. In 1987, as part of his Glass Spider tour, the late musician performed a concert on 11 July to tens of thousands of fans in the iconic Boyne Valley venue of Slane Castle.

150 years ago, the first Irish Grand National steeplechase took place at Fairyhouse Racecourse, Co. Meath. Over the past century and a half this famous race in the Boyne Valley has become the premiere event on the Irish horse racing calendar. For the first Grand National the prize fund was 167 gold sovereigns and the winner was a horse named after the late prime minister Sir Robert Peel.

An exciting and interactive new exhibition on the Story of Kells was opened on May 30th by Brendan Griffin, TD, Minister of State at the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport with a ceremonial cutting of the ribbon.  The new permanent tourism exhibition, developed with a Fáilte Ireland investment of €125,000 and matchfunded by Meath County Council, has created a state of the art tourism exhibition. Meath County Council has invested in restoring the Kells Courthouse building to the highest standard and yesterday marked the official re-opening as a new visitor centre, now home t

Púca is the name of Fáilte Ireland’s exciting new festival that aims to position Ireland internationally as the home of Halloween. The Minister of State for Tourism and Sport, Brendan Griffin, has announced the name of the festival, which will take place this year in Ireland’s Ancient East, and has been developed in partnership with Meath and Louth County Councils.