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A stop northward from Malahide on the commuter train (or the #33 and #33B bus from Dublin) is DONABATE , another trim town, worth visiting for Newbridge House (April-Sept Tues-Sat 10am-1pm & 2-5pm, Sun 2-6pm; Oct-March Sat & Sun 2-5pm; GBP3/?3.81), signposted from the station, at the end of a twenty-minute ramble through woodlands, or a short car journey from the main road. Built in 1737 for the Cobbe family, who came to Ireland in 1717 and rose rapidly through the Church of Ireland, it's a solid Georgian mansion whose main draw is the extraordinary Museum of Curiosities , a rare and marvellous family museum, started in 1790 and almost intact. Decorated with elegant representations of the "labours of China", it includes everything from exotic weapons and fish to an African chief's umbrella and the mummified ear of an Egyptian bull. The house remained without electricity until the 1960s, when it was wired up for the filming of The Spy Who Came in from the Cold , which starred Richard Burton and Clare Bloom. A cosy coffee shop serves soup and cakes, and the courtyards have been converted into a traditional farm with wandering goats and publicity-shy pigs. SKERRIES , on the coast a few miles further north on the rail line, is close enough to Dublin to have a prosperous suburban hinterland, but the long main street, and the brightly painted huddle of houses on the spit of land that forms the harbour, preserve the romantic air of a remote fishing village. Atmospheric when it basks in the westering sun, and yet more so when the rain lashes down, this is a place to hole up and write your masterpiece - and, if your publisher's advance is big enough, to enjoy the seafood at the Red Bank Restaurant and Guesthouse in Church Street (tel 849 1005 or 1006).
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