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South of Laragh, the Vale of Clara leads to RATHDRUM , a quiet village on the Dublin-Rosslare railway route and the Dublin-Arklow bus route. Here the Old Presbytery hostel (IHH; tel 0404/46930; under GBP26/?33.01) offers comfortable accommodation in twin rooms and dorms. As so little budget accommodation in this area exists this is a handy stopover; cyclists in particular may find it a useful place to stay if the Glendalough hostel is fully booked. The hostel is well equipped with gym, sauna and full disabled access, and it caters for groups, so phoning ahead is advisable. About a mile and a half south of Rathdrum lies Avondale where you can visit Avondale House (mid-March to Oct daily 11am-6pm; grounds open daily all year; GBP3/?3.81 house). Home to one of Ireland's most influential and important politicians, Charles Stewart Parnell , born here in 1846, was hailed as the "uncrowned king of Ireland" until his career - and his campaign for home rule - was brought to an end by the scandal of his love for a married woman, Kitty O'Shea . The house , designed in 1779 by the celebrated English architect John Wyatt, is a modest, box-shaped building. Inside, there's a delicate, Wedgwood-like blue dining room with plasterwork by the famous Lanfranchini brothers, a striking vermilion library (Parnell's favourite room), and, in the entrance hall, an elegant minstrels' gallery from where Parnell, a nervous orator, used to practise his political speeches. The Avondale estate has been in the possession of the Irish Forestry Board since 1904, and the grounds are used for silvicultural experiments. As a result, they're filled with rare tree species. There's a coffee shop, and plenty of picnic tables in the estate. The scenic Vale of Avoca , two miles south of Avondale, can be excessively crowded with coach tours heading for the mills. Nevertheless, don't be put off: its beauty - once you leave the fertilizer plant behind - is genuinely rewarding, with thickly wooded slopes on either side of the river, culminating in the Meeting of the Waters , the confluence of the Avonmore and Avonbeg rivers. The Meeting has attracted its fair share of coffee shops, and there's a pleasant pub, but for excellent daytime food , among other things, you're better advised to stop a mile or so downstream at the pleasantly unassuming village of AVOCA with its hand-weaving mill (May-Sept Mon-Fri 8am-4.30pm, Sat & Sun 9am-5pm; Oct-April Mon-Fri 8am-4.30pm, Sat & Sun 10am-4.30pm; tel 0402/35105; free). The weavers are housed in a group of whitewashed buildings with steep grey roofs, where the fly-shuttle looms that caused mass unemployment when they were introduced in 1723 appear as picturesquely traditional. There's an excellent, inexpensive lunch room which serves sandwiches, soup and cakes, and a shop selling good quality crafts and knitwear.
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