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The Curragh , just south of Kildare, is the centre of the Irish racing world, for the race course itself and dozens of stud farms. First thing in the morning you can see strings of slim racehorses exercising on the six thousand acres of grassland. Breeding and training them is one of Ireland's major money-spinners, and much of it is centred on the Curragh. For an idea of the scale of the operation, Goff's Kildare Paddocks at Kill, which sells over half of all Irish-bred horses, processes an annual turnover of around GBP50 million/?63 million. Security considerations mean that none of the working stud farms are open to the public. The best place to see the perfectionism that attends the breeding and training of these valuable horses is the National Stud , just outside Kildare, signposted from the centre of town (mid-Feb-mid-Nov daily 9.30am-6pm, last admission 5pm; guided tours on the hour from 11am in high season, and according to demand at other times; tel 045/521617, www.irish-national-stud.ie ; GBP6/?7.62). You can easily walk out to it from the town, though the entrance is not the obvious one (through the main gates that you pass on the road from Dublin) instead, follow the signs from the centre for the stud. Access to the adjacent St Fiachra's Garden and the Japanese Garden is included in the price of the ticket. The National Stud itself consists of neat white buildings set in green lawns as close-cropped and well groomed as a Derby-winner's coat: a spick-and-span monument to the greater glory and perfectability of horses. Established in 1900 by Colonel William Hall Walker, who believed that horoscopes affected horses' form, the stud enjoyed a marvellous record of success, and in 1915 was bequeathed to the British Crown, which rewarded Walker by creating him Lord Wavertree. When transferred to the Irish State in 1943, it became the National Stud. Colonel Hall Walker's belief in the stars is reflected in the stallion boxes , built in the 1960s according to his astrological principles, with lantern roofs allowing moon and stars to exert their influence on the occupants. There's a brass plaque on each door giving the stallion's name and details of his racing career. The National Stud's museum is an enjoyably chaotic account of the history of horses and horse racing which contains, among other bizarre exhibits, the skeleton of the 1960s champion racehorse, Arkle. The high point of the visit though has to be the horses themselves: you can admire top stallions at close quarters, stroll between perfect paddocks of grazing thoroughbreds, and, between February and June, watch mares with their foals. Within the grounds of the National Stud are two highly distinctive gardens: the Japanese Garden and St Fiachra's Garden (both with the same opening hours as the National Stud). The rather bizarre Japanese Garden was laid out on a drained bog, between 1906 and 1910, by Colonel Hall Walker and two Japanese gardeners. Part of the Edwardian craze for all things Japanese, they're planned to represent the "life of man" - man, emphatically, it has to be said, rather than woman. In a weird kind of enumerated metaphysical joyride, you're led from birth to death via the Tunnel of Ignorance (no. 3) and the Parting of Ways (no. 6), where you're invited to choose between a life of philandering bachelorhood or marriage. Choosing marriage, you step across stepping stones to the Island of Joy and Wonder (no. 7) and meet your wife at the engagement bridge (no. 8; easily confused with the Red Bridge of Life, no. 17) and so on. Finally you pass through the Gateway to Eternity (no. 20), and it's time to go. The nearby St Fiachra's Garden is similarly engaging. St Fiachra was a sixth-century Irish monk of noble birth who travelled throughout Ireland and Scotland before founding a hermitage at Breuil in France. Fiachra urged his followers to undertake manual labour, cultivate gardens and aid the poor; after his death he became the French patron saint of gardeners. St Fiachra's Garden seeks to present some sense of the natural environment which inspired the spirituality of the sixth- and seventh-century monastic movement in Ireland, through a series of motifs gleaned from that history. The resulting landscape of still pools and rushing water, monumental limestone and sculpted grassy banks makes for a suitably peaceful place. At the centre of the ensemble stands a re-creation of the stone monastic cells found on Skellig Michael, off the Kerry coast ; once inside you can make up your own mind about the hoarde of twinkling Waterford Crystal embedded in the floor, which is claimed to be "like the delicacy of the human soul, pure and undefiled". All in all, St Fiachra's Garden is a tranquil place to wile away half an hour or so and makes the perfect contemporary counterpoint to the old style New-Age philosophizing of the Japanese Garden nearby.
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