SNIPPET: Co. Meath has much to offer in the way of history and archaeology, but it is half forgotten by people who comes to Ireland for the scenery. Mountainless, and with only a few miles of coastline, it compensates by offering lazy rivers and lush green pastures, spectacular hills and valleys with remarkable rock formations. Its gardens are equal to the best in any Irish county. There is a grandeur of the 12th century castle at Trim (said to be the finest anywhere in Ireland!) with an outstanding collection of craft work offered to visitors. Wandering around the town (which has retained its delightful medieval plan of narrow winding streets) you will discover charming 18th and 19th century town houses, shops, good food and a splendid pub where you can eat and drink overlooking the waters of the River Boyne as it flows beneath one of the oldest bridges in Ireland - so old that it has gothic arches rather than the round-topped ones that were seen from the 17th century onwards. The ancient bridge still carries traffic. Butterstream Gardens has been transformed from a few acres of pasture with a small stream and magnificent ancient willow trees due to the efforts of a dedicated, self-confessed amateur gardener named Jim REYNOLDS. This gentleman has worked to create more than a dozen contrasting and colorful gardens within a small space over a period of many years which are separated from each other by hedges of Beech, Yew and Hawthorn. Athboy has a tree-shaded village green. The town of Oldcastle, surrounding its church, has a scene of pastoral beauty. In Co. Meath you will hear skylarks singing overhead, feast your eyes on expanses of rolling green hillsides and brilliant yellow gorse bushes and enjoy time spent at Lough Bane. The Loughcrew Cairns and Historic Gardens are a must. The gardens have traces of 17th century garden planning and ancient Yew trees; the demesne was once the property of the PLUNKETT family and the childhood home of its most distinguished member, the 17th century Oliver, archbishop, martyr and saint. It has been the property of the NAPER family since the 17th century, and Charles and Emily NAPER in 1997, set to work to create a new garden amongst the remnants of the old, which appeared in the Nov/Dec 2001 issue of Dublin's "Ireland of the Welcomes" magazine. Old buildings are being restored. The great classical house built in 1823 was burned at least three times, the last fire in the 1960s destroying it. Some of the stonework is being re-erected to form an ornamental feature. The oldest part of the demesne, an earthen mound created by Anglo-Norman invaders, has been planted with daffodils and heelbores. There is an extraordinary complex nearby hill-top cairns, standing stones, ring forts and ancient dwellings if you follow the sign to the passage grave cemetery at Carnblane East, standing at the summit of the long ridge called Slieve na Calliage - the Hag's Mountain. There are many Loughcrew cairns, and although small you will have the entire hilltop to yourself to spend as long as you like on the site. Newgrange and Knowth, in the Boyne Valley, some miles away, have more splendid examples of Stone-Age monuments with tour guides and information. Lough Lene, in neighboring Westmeath, proudly holds the Blue Flag for the purity of its waters.