Fore Abbey is one of the best reasons to leave Mullingar for the north Westmeath countryside. The ruins sit in a green valley around the village of Fore, where monastic tradition goes back to St Féichín in the 7th century and the later medieval remains still give the place real presence.
Look for the local "Seven Wonders of Fore" as much as the abbey walls themselves: the monastery in the bog, the water that is said to flow uphill, the tree that will not burn, and the other bits of folklore that make the site more than masonry. It is quiet, layered, and far more rewarding than its modest profile suggests.