Newbridge House

Best playground in Dublin, in terms of the amount of stuff for kids to do, general facilities (for instance, well maintained toilets!) and the way the place is run. The playground is free so it’s brilliant, you pay about € 5 to visit the open farm which is one of the best we have been to. Didn’t like the way the reception area where you buy your entrance tickets is stuffed full of child-​attracting junk though, and also the tea rooms is horrendously expensive — even though the food is of good quality, paying over ten euros for a panini is harking back to 2006 days and is out of place in today’s post «Celtic Tiger» times!

this is a great little gem of a place. it has lovely wide open spaces to sit, relax and picnic. it has a playground in which you can lose the children for about an hour and it also has a farm and coffee shop.
the farm is rather cool, when i went in it had lots of poultry, pigs and piglets, goats, cows and an interesting little hatchery. i even seen the eggs moving around as if ready to hatch! pity i did’nt stay long enough because i’d have loved to see if them break out of their shells. there is lots of ye auld farm machinery to see, makes you see how far technology has moved on from the plough and thrashing machines.
its a great place to go if you want a bit of peace and quiet from the city and it only takes about 25 minutes to get there from the city center on the M1.

Newbridge House is an elegant Georgian mansion set within the 360 hectares of Newbridge Demesne Regional Park. The house has been home to the eminent Cobbe family since 1736, until the house and grounds were acquired by Fingal County Council in 1985. Original furniture and artwork have been loaned to the Council by the Cobbe family, and the house has been fully restored to its 18^th century splendor.
Entertaining guided tours are conducted through the house, taking visitors through the main apartments to the Red Drawing Room which is famous for its white marble fireplace and rococo plaster ceiling. The huge kitchen quarters are interesting for their vast collection of antique utensils, and there’s also a quaint Museum of Curiosities, displaying artefacts collected down through the generations of the Cobbe family.
Within the grounds is a reconstruction of a traditional farm, complete with original farm machinery and rare-​breed animals, two 19^th century glasshouses, and a Museum of Country Life which includes a blacksmith’s forge and a carpenter’s workshop.
Admission to the house is € 7, farm is € 3.50.