Connemara and County Mayo Sights

Shopping Nightlife Performing Arts

1. Foxford Woolen Mills

This site is just a 20-minute drive from Castlebar through the pretty village of Foxford which has several crafts and antiques shops. Woolen Mills Visitor Centre is a good stop heading north on the N5 where you can explore the crafts shop and grab a bite at the restaurant. Few first-time visitors leave without buying an heirloom-quality Foxford blanket. The Foxford Experience tells the story of the wool mill, famous for its tweeds and blankets, from the time of the famine in the mid-19th century—when it was founded by the Sisters of Charity to combat poverty—to the present day. Visitors can take the longer and more scenic route from Castlebar via the tiny, wooded village of Pontoon, skirting the western shore of Lough Conn and passing through the rough bogland of the Glen of Nephin, beneath the dramatic heather-clad slopes of Nephin Mountain to Crossmolina and Ballina.