BT Young Scientist & Technology Exhibition

The BT Young Scientist & Technology Exhibition 2011, now in its 47th year, takes place on 12th - 15th January.

The competition has received a record-breaking number of entries this year, with 3,943 students submitting a total of 1,735 projects. 520 projects will be featured at the exhibition, which takes place at the RDS in Ballsbridge, just a few minutes from Mount Herbert Hotel.

We are offering a special rate for people visiting the BT Young Scientist & Technology Exhibition, with an overnight stay and full Irish breakfast from just €37.50 per person sharing.

Call us on 01 6142000 for more details or to make a booking.

National Crafts & Design Fair at RDS Dublin

If there's ever a time to start your Christmas Shopping, it's when the National Crafts & Design Fair comes to the RDS!

Running from the 1st December until the 5th, this annual event brings together 500 designers, artists and crafts people offering everything from chcolate to high fashion.

Entry is €10, with discounts for OAPs and Groups, and if you haven't had a chance to see everything (or buy everything!) you wanted, you can also get a free re-admission ticket on your way out.

Complimentary gift wrapping is available and early birds who get there on the first day of the event will also be treated to a 10% courtesty discount on all purchases.

As well as array of arts & crafts, there is also a Food Emporium offering aselection of food and wine from across the globe, along with free talks, tastings and demonstrations.

The RDS is only a ten minute stroll from Mount Herbert Hotel, making us the ideal place to stay if you're visiting the Fair from further afield. Take a look at our Christmas Shopping Stay, which includes a hot whiskey or Irish coffee with mince pie on arrival, an overnight stay in one of our stylish rooms and a full Irish breakfast the next morning from just €34.50 per person sharing. Call us on 01 6142000 for more details or to make a booking.

We hope you enjoy the 2010 National Crafts & Design Fair and find some great gifts!

Sligo Win 2010 FAI Ford Cup Final

Sligo Rovers won the 2010 FAI Ford Cup Final on Sunday, much to the delight of our Sales & Marketing Manager Michelle Sweeney, who hails from Enniscrone.

Our Tritonville Bar & Terrace was jam-packed full of fans on the day, with Sligo's Ocean FM coming along to broadcast the run-up to the match live from Mount Herbert Hotel. With a sea of supporters, live interviews and great music, the atmosphere was absolutely electric here!

Michelle is pictured above (third from left) with the lucky winner of Ocean FM / Mount Herbert Hotel competition Una Kilgannon of Templeboy, Sligo Mayor Matt Lyons (front row, second from left), and Sligo Rovers supporters.

Christmas in Dublin

Take a peek at a few of the events on offer this festive season in Dublin, just a snowball's throw from Mount Herbert Hotel!

Xpose Xmas Xperience 19th - 21st November
Get ready for the Christmas party season with fashion and beauty inspiration from the Xposé Xmas Xperience at the RDS. The 3 day event will feature catwalk shows & make-up masterclasses hosted by Xposé’s glamorous leading ladies, along with live entertainment by F.Y.D. on Friday's opening night and Jamie Archer on the Saturday.

Taste of Christmas 26th - 28th November
If you haven't had a chance to take a look at the new Convention Centre Dublin yet, what better reason than to go along to the Taste of Christmas! Meet the experts for their top tips on festive food & drink at this three day feast and sample signature dishes from Dublin's top restaurants. Celeb chefs (including Gino D’Acampo, Kevin Dundon, Heston Blumenthal, Catherine Fulvio, Conrad Gallagher and Donal Skehan) will be demonstrating how to create the perfect Christmas feast with live theatre shows in the sate-of-the-art auditorium, so you'll have no excuses!

A Chocolate Christmas in Temple Bar 3rd - 5th December
A fabulous combination of chocolate and winter wonderland, this 3 day festival is choc-a-bloc with festive fun for all the family, including outdoor movies, panto, chcocolate making talks, demonstrations, workshops and most importantly - tastings!

7UP Christmas on Ice
This year you can take your pick of two fantastic venues to take to your skates at. Admire the views from Arnotts rooftop rink or enjoy the festive atmosphere at the RDS, and chase the chills away with hot chocolate, gourmet coffee and treats from the chocolate fountain. 7UP Christmas on Ice opens at Arnotts on 12th November and at the RDS from 3rd December, and runs until mid January 2011.

Stay at Mount Herbert Hotel during the festive season and get an Irish coffee or hot whisky and a mince pie on arrival, an overnight stay in one of our stylish rooms and full Irish breakfast the next morning from just €34.50 per person sharing with our special offer. Call us on 01 6142000 for more details or to make a booking.

Christmas Parties at Mount Herbert Hotel

Looking for somewhere to celebrate Christmas with your colleagues or a group of friends? Our Gourmet Extravaganza is fun, festive and most definitely a feast. The evening starts with spectacular cocktails created by designer specialists, along with amuse bouche canapés, before a lavish 8 course tasting menu in our Cordyline Restaurant, with party novelties to get everyone in the festive mood.

And for one of these 8 courses, our Chef will be putting on a dramatic display in front of guests and making Christmas pudding ice-cream in just seconds with liquid nitrogen! As well as gourmet entertainment, there will also be fantastic live music to really get the party started and a bar extension so that it can keep on going.

For those looking to celebrate during the daytime, we are also offering a fabulous four course Festive Lunch.

Our Gourmet Extravaganza is €49 per person and our Festive Lunch is €25 per person.
See menus for both here.

Call us on 01 6142000 for details or to make a booking!

A Dublin Image from our Flickr Group

Image Copyright Patrick Losty

We have selected the fabulous image above to feature on our blog from our Dublin Images Flickr Group, taken by Patrick Losty. This picture is a great juxtaposition of old and new, with our neighbour Aviva Stadium in the background. Read Patrick's background info on his interest in photography and how this picture came about:

"I have been taking pictures of my home city Dublin since the mid 1980's and from the late 1980's I focused on Dublin Bus and Bus Eireann operated buses branching out into civil aviation in the early 1990's, started off and encouraged along the way by fellow transport photographer and author Jonathan McDonnell.

My photography interest is still as strong as ever and in fact the availability of digital cameras from 2004 onwards opened up many more items of interest where previously film cameras were restricted to 36 prints which meant many items in day to day life went unrecorded, digital cameras allow almost 100% coverage.

Wheelingintheyears.com
I have supplied the text and images for the yearly series currently up on Barry Millar/Tony Murrays excellent website, www.wheelingintheyears.com which covers every year from 1987 up to and including 2009. These mostly transport related photofeatures cover the main events that occurred during the specific year and some years feature non transport/non Irish items. If you click on year 1989, pictures 9 & 10 (April 1989) show the Johnson, Mooney & O'Brien Bakery Buildings, Ballsbridge and the Sweepstakes Building, Ballsbridge which were located not too far from Mount Herbert Hotel. Click on 2009, the new Samuel Beckett Bridge, the opening of IKEA Dublin, Guinness 250 were featured, click on 2007, the closure of Jurys Ballsbridge was featured. So there is something in the yearly series for everybody to enjoy.

I also provide Tony's website www.dublinbus.cc with photofeatures such as the Bombardier buses which were withdrawn from service in 2001, there are many other bus types featured too. On Saturday, 30/10/10, the famous and much loved Dublin Bus route 10 was withdrawn so I covered that most historic event, an image appears on my www.Flickr.com site under 'Shamrock 105'.

So the picture of the 'Railway Preservation Society of Ireland' (RPSI) steam train is one such item that will be on a shortlist for inclusion in Wheeling In The Years 2010. I generally watch the advertisements in 'The Irish Times' advising of such RPSI trips and then decide the best location for pictures taking account of sun direction and in this case Sandymount Railway station platform was chosen for this 22 August 2010 image."