CLARE - Have you been there?

Advantages: History, Wildlife, Beautiful Scenery, and all FREE!
Disadvantages: Unfortunately there is not much of the castle 'keep' left to see.

...With the rain pouring down outside, I like to remember lovely summer days, not long ago, and a spare afternoon that provided my husband and I with the chance to go out and visit Clare Castle Country Park again, this time with a picnic. We had previously visited by chance a few years ago while out on a drive with my youngest son, and had noticed that Clare had a castle. This led us to take a closer look, being interested in history and architecture. HISTORY: Clare castle is an example of a classic Norman 'motte and bailey' castle. It was first built in around 1090 as a defence, when Richard Fitzgilbert was given the Manor of Clare by his cousin William the Conqueror. Originally the 'keep' was made of timber, but it was replaced in the 13th century by the stone 'keep' of which one small section remain to see today, along...

little_red_hen 19.10.2006 (30.06.2007) · Read review
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Review of Clare Castle Country Park, Suffolk

Dark Justice by Jack Higgins

Advantages: Action packed thriller
Disadvantages: Too predictable and simplistic

...Background: I have seen and avoided Jack Higgins books for years. A friend of mine who's really into military and war books always swears by them, but I thought that I wouldn't like them. But I thought I should finally take the plunge and see what they are all about. Nothing ventured nothing gained so the saying goes. About the author Jack Higgins was born in Belfast in 1929. He has written over 50 novels, and as well as writing under his own name he uses the following pseudonyms Martin Fallow, Hugh Marlowe and James Graham for his work. Under Higgins he has written 15 novels including this one featuring Sean Dillon as his main character. About the book An audacious attempt to assassinate the President of the United States is thwarted by the Secret Service tipped of by British Intelligence. The would be killer last...

CPTDANIELS 24.05.2008 · Read review
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Review of Dark Justice - Jack Higgins

FREE DVDs

Advantages: Free trial, large choice, post included,new realeases
Disadvantages: see review

...I like movies and I like freebies, so when you get offered both in one swoop you?re bound to accept! I used my two week free trial with this company and remained with them for a couple of monthsbefore moving on to try many other companies free trials (and winning a new DVD player on Tesco DVD rental site on their free trial offer). I then had an email from DVDs 365 asking me to go back, and offering me a free DVD if I did so. I had just left Tesco (with my new DVD player) so I chose to go back with them. ∆◊◊ THE SERVICE THEY OFFER ∆◊◊ Basically it?s like going to a video shop and hiring films on DVD, except you don?t pay for each film you chose ? rather a monthly fee for which you can watch as many movies as you can fit in, for us this is usually around 8 a month (2 a week usually weekends...

dabmim 15.11.2004 · Read review
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Review of dvds365.com

Clare as Crystal

Advantages: Amazing Scenery, friendly locals, peaceful atmosphere
Disadvantages: Can get a bit touristy in the summer months

...For anyone who loves breathtaking scenery, and wants to get away from the buzz of city life, try heading along to peaceful County Clare in the west coast of the Irish Republic. Ennis, the quiet capital of the county, is an ideal base from which you can explore the county. Here you can also take part in a number of nature activities and outdoor sports, as well as seeing the various old churches and monuments. Try the Clare museum and Ennis Friary for cultural information about the area. The Cliffs of Moher sit hundreds of feet over an azure blue sea. You can lie on your front with your head hanging over the edge to experience the true meaning of dizzy heights, or walk along the clifftop admiring the view. The sea is crystal clear and you can see the dark rocks below in the shallow parts. Although the best time to go is in...

avitallly 30.04.2001 · Read review
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Review of Clare (Ireland)

Surprising Picture Quality - Panasonic DVD-S54

Advantages: Incredible picture quality when compared to my old non-upscaling player with a scart lead
Disadvantages: Sometimes disc drive can be really noisy when DVD's initially load.

...At first I wasn't convinced by up-scaling DVD player technology but was persuaded after reading an article in "What Hi-Fi? Sound and Vision" magazine. Unable to afford a Blu-Ray player my sister and I bought the Panasonic DVD-S54 to match our parents brand new Panasonic TX-32LZD80 LCD television as their Christmas 2008 present. Admittedly it was a slightly selfish purchase as we both live at home and wanted to watch DVDs on the big new TV ourselves! We bought the player from the electrical retailer Comet for about £100 just before Christmas so there were no discounts applied. On Christmas day when opened we found a relatively small box tightly packed with the player in polystyrene packaging. All the components such as cables, remote and manuals were well presented in their own protective plastic bags, to keep them protected. The player...

bobbacon985 12.02.2009 · Read review
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Review of Panasonic DVD-S54

When the going get tough, leave the Mont Clare

Advantages: South-central location, adjoining pub
Disadvantages: Price, service-level, chintz

...The Mont Clare hotel is part of the O'Callaghan hotel group that encompasses the Davenport and Alexander Hotels, with all three in close proximity to each other. Of the three, the Mont Clare is the cheapest and lowest rated (3-stars). Unfortunately, it charges 4-star pricing that really isn't deserved by any stretch of the imagination. My overwhelming impression the moment I walked in the door was brass: lots of it. This was immediately before the sinking feeling I get when I know I'm in a hotel that lacks inspiration, and also fails to make up for it by having the reliable, attentive customer service that succeeds in spite of the infrastructure. Think mahogany veneer with attempts at paisley carpets and patterns, and you'll have a fairly good idea of where this is going. Add a level of rickety, with the constant smell...

chunkieuk 14.03.2004 (13.01.2006) · Read review
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Review of Mont Clare Hotel, Dublin

ST CLARES - MORE JOLLY HOCKYSTICKS!

Advantages: a gentle read, loved it when i was a kid
Disadvantages: bit out of date nowadays

...Having just written a review of Malory Towers, it reminded me of the other boarding school series also written by Enid Blyton. There are 6 books in this series: The Twins at St Clares The O'Sullivan Twins Summer Term at St Clares Second Form at St Clares Claudine at St Clares Fifth Formers at St Clares The twins - Pat & Isobel O'Sullivan - are sent to St Clares boarding school and they are not very happy about it. They wanted to go to a posher school where all of their friends are going, so they decide to look down their noses at everything at the school and soon earn the name of "the stuckup twins". They are pretty hopeless at everyday tasks like making toast and cleaning shoes. However, they soon settle in to the school and start to make friends with the other girls. The stories then take you through various...

kismet 16.11.2005 · Read review
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Review of Enid Blyton's Third Form at St.Clare's - Enid Blyton

Another Higgins winner

Advantages: Usual fast Higgins action
Disadvantages: Not long enough

...Another winner for Higgins featuring all of the favourites, Ferguson who runs the British dirty tricks department, Dillon the ex IRA enforcer, Blake the U.S. Presidents right hand man, detective inspector Bernstien of special branch, the Salters who are old fashioned London gangsters and a special introduction of Liam Devlin a famous IRA character. In the opposite corner we have the Maffia and in particular a rogue member one Jack Fox who is the nephew of Don Marco a godfather of the maffia. Jack likes his money and is running several operations on the quiet, or so he thinks? The incident which starts the story off is a magazine article featuring Jack Fox and wrote the magazines top writer who bu strange coincidence happens to be Blakes ex wife. The incident appears to be harmless but the godfather can see potential...

yorkie2 04.07.2001 · Read review
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Review of Day of Reckoning - Jack Higgins

Mercy, please!

Advantages: Quick to read
Disadvantages: Poorly developed characters, no real storyline

...I've never read any Jack Higgins before, but I was lent Without Mercy and decided to give it a go. I was a little dubious as on the front cover it states 'the unstoppable Sean Dillon is back' and as I don't know who this Sean Dillon character is, I thought I may have missed some important back history. The book claimed to be 'a fierce thriller of terrorism, murder and revenge', and so I thought it would be quite fast-paced and exciting. As I read the first couple of chapters, I realised it didn't matter that I didn't know the Sean Dillon character. I found that none of the characters were given any real depth or back story. By half way through the book, this remained the case and I began to get frustrated. I can forgive an author poorly developed characters if there is a compelling storyline to the book, but I was disappointed by this...

M.Newcastle 10.09.2009 · Read review
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Review of Without Mercy - Jack Higgins

A Death Divided is truly awful

Advantages: None
Disadvantages: Dreadful writing

...A Death Divided is by Clare Francis, an author I have never read before, so I wasn?t sure what to expect. The plot follows the story of Joe, a solicitor who?s unhappy in his work. He also has a more pressing problem. The father of an old friend, Jenna, has contacted him, to ask for his help to find Jenna, who seems to have fallen off the face of the earth. No one in her family has heard from her for years, and her father is growing more and more desperate in his search. Jenna?s father hopes that Joe will be able to use some of his contacts to open up more avenues for searching. Joe feels obliged to help, mainly because Jenna?s father is leaning toward blaming her husband Chetwood for their disappearance. Joe was the person who initially introduced the pair, so he feels some what to blame for her disappearance. Using some...

Fiver29 08.05.2009 · Read review
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Review of A Death Divided - Clare Francis