Glencree Centre for Peace and Reconciliation

This is a quiet historic campus, not an attraction with turnstiles. The long range of buildings was completed in 1806 as a British Army barracks, and since 1974 it has housed a nonprofit centre working on peacebuilding and reconciliation. You come for the setting, the layered history and a break in the valley, and it works best as a short stop woven into a Wicklow drive, walk or cycle rather than a destination in its own right.

Set expectations honestly: there is no guaranteed museum, exhibition or tour, and interior rooms are working spaces for the centre rather than public galleries. On a slow day, coffee and a wander may be the whole of it.

• The former military barracks range and St Kevin's Church side by side, the clearest thing to look at and photograph
• Views down Glencree Valley and out toward the Sugarloaf
• A grotto and a small burial ground on the grounds
• The German War Cemetery a short stroll away, a walled and very still place
• The cafe and a small selection of local crafts when they are operating, handy for coffee and something homemade

• Do not treat the car park as a hillwalking base. It serves the centre and cafe, and leaving a vehicle here for a long day on the hills without asking first is not on.
• What is open can vary, so arrive without a fixed plan for refreshments.
• Facilities are modest, and the interest is historic and atmospheric rather than scenic drama.
• Parking and facilities are described as wheelchair friendly, but the grounds are old and uneven in places, so check your own route if that matters.

Few buildings in the mountains have had so many lives. After its army years the site became St Kevin's Reformatory School, running from the 1850s until 1940. Then, from 1945 to 1950, Operation Shamrock brought children affected by the war to Glencree to recover. The centre itself was founded in 1974, in response to the violence in Northern Ireland. Knowing that sequence changes how the place reads when you stand in the yard.

The German War Cemetery is the obvious pairing, a few minutes on foot and worth the walk. Beyond that you are on the doorstep of the Wicklow Way and the open upper valley. Bring a jacket, decent shoes for damp ground, and enough patience to sit still for ten minutes, which is really what this valley asks of you.