Slieve Bloom Storytelling Festival

What to Expect

The Slieve Bloom Storytelling Festival runs across two days each October, spreading its programme over three venues in the Slieve Bloom Mountains that straddle the Offaly-Laois border: Kinnitty Castle in Offaly, and Clonaslee Heritage Centre and Ballaghmore Castle in Laois. The festival is built around “local storytelling, music, dance & song” and is deliberately participatory rather than passive, with organisers Offaly Local Development Company encouraging attendees to bring and share their own stories or tunes alongside the billed performers. The programme mixes workshops with performances from professional storytellers and is pitched at both adults and children, so family groups and solo visitors with an interest in the oral tradition are equally catered for. The stated aim is to revive the fireside “rambling house” custom, the old rural practice of neighbours gathering in one another’s homes of an evening to swap stories, music and news before radio and television took over that role, and the festival treats Kinnitty, Clonaslee and Ballaghmore as three modern rambling houses for the weekend, each hosting its own night of the programme rather than one single event repeated three times.

Good to Know

• Dates: Thursday 8 and Friday 9 October 2026, with the programme split across the two days
• Time: various across the two days and three venues
• Kinnitty Castle is the Offaly venue; the other legs run at Clonaslee Heritage Centre and at Ballaghmore Castle, Dublin Road, Borris-in-Ossory, both in Co. Laois
• Price: not published at time of writing
• Organised by Offaly Local Development Company, working across the wider Slieve Bloom partnership area
• Further information: enquiries@slievebloom.ie or 086 821 0056
• Recurrence: runs annually each October as a joint Offaly-Laois festival

Getting There

Kinnitty Castle stands in the village of Kinnitty in the Slieve Bloom foothills, around 25km southeast of Tullamore and 14km from Birr, and has its own car parking. There is no direct rail or scheduled bus service into Kinnitty itself; the nearest railway stations are Tullamore and Roscrea, with a car needed for the final leg into the mountains. The Laois legs of the festival, at Clonaslee and Ballaghmore, involve a further drive into neighbouring Co. Laois and are best treated as separate outings rather than one circuit in a single visit.

While You’re in Kinnitty

Kinnitty village sits at the foot of the Slieve Bloom Mountains and is a trailhead for walking routes into the range, with the Slieve Bloom Way passing close by. There is more to see across Co. Offaly.