As I write, Storm Barra - only the second storm of the Winter 2021 season is set to bring incredibly strong winds over Ireland

Storm Barra is set to batter Ireland for over 24 hours with forecasts showing sustained speeds of up to 80km/h and gusts of over 130km/h.

It has been, as is usually the case, a very calm day here in Ireland ahead of the stormy conditions. 

Twelve of Ireland's counties have been issued with top level and second level warnings for wind and rain with the associated problems of damage, fallen trees and flooding.

More to come on Panoramic Ireland over the next few days.

County Tipperary has been named as one of the top places in the world to visit in 2022 by Condé Nast, the world's most famous travel magazine.

It has been mentioned specifically for its food and scenic beauty.

You will find no argument about this from Panoramic Ireland, we enjoy photographing in the green county that stretches from the River Shannon to the River Suir.

Previously Tipperary was the only Irish county to be divided into two, a north and south owing to the long size and varied terrain.

This image from the famous Rock of Cashel shows some of what makes Tipperary a special place to visit, Condé Nast noted that the county really only featured as a stopping point between Dublin and Cork with most people only visiting Cashel.

Yet the whole of Tipperary is worthy of a visit in itself, from mountains to rivers, lakes, castles and cycling trails it is really a surprise that it has taken people to notice the landlocked county that borders Galway and Waterford.

So why not join Panoramic Ireland to photograph in County Tipperary in 2022, our photography tours and workshops are available all year round, all throughout Ireland.

Imagine the scene, it's a fine summer's day in the Irish countryside, County Cork this time; the sun is shining strong, stronger than for most of the summer of 2021.

We stop off to view some old ruins and find this fine big field, one of many in this part of Ireland's southwest that isn't green with this old David Brown tractor spinning hay.

At one point a joke was made that if the farmer was in a modern tractor he would have more comforts, including a comfy seat and air conditioning but...of course he has the best air conditioning going - no windows!

Anyway, on we went to photograph the ruins nearby and further afield on a day of photography in the Irish countryside.

Panoramic Ireland's guided photography tours and workshops capture the best of Ireland throughout the year, every day of the week, so on your next holiday join me to photograph Ireland.

A few months after my cancer treatment in 2019, I was travelling through the sunny, lush Irish countryside and found a sign that I had passed many times before. 

It was for Saint Pater's Church, Laragh, County Monaghan.

So off I went for a bit of exploration. Travelling along a small, windy road lined with heavy vegetation, in particular large ash trees, I found the small, attractive church along the roadside; a road that was undergoing resurfacing.

I could see that the door was open, often a rarity in rural Ireland these days so I headed into the grounds, past a small stream and climbed the steps into the quaint, unusual church.

Inside I found some fine stained glass windows, terracotta floor tiles and lots of wood. Interestingly there was a pulpit on a rock, to be expected in a church dedicated to Saint Peter of course.

The outside of the church is made of neatly painted and tidy looking corrugated tin.

Built in 1890 and consecrated the following year, it was largely funded by a local tweed mill owner called James McKean who had been inspired by travels overseas and who wanted to build a church to suit the small congregation, many of whom worked in his various enterprises.

This was not intended, as many tin or iron churches were, to be a temporary structure. Tin, or iron churches were often advertised at the time for their affordability and the ease with which they could be removed and re-erected elsewhere. 

The traceried east window with four quatrefoils and fine stained glass, the attention to detail on the exterior of the church with its iron finials, the cockerel weather vane and the quality of the woodworking skills hint at a building that was to last generations.

Indeed Saint Peter's in Laragh served as a church for the ever-dwindling Church of Ireland community, with decreasing regularity, until the early 1960s when it was de-consecrated.

It fell into disrepair until it was restored by community effort in 2014.

And it is true to say that the restoration was a stellar effort, the 'tin tabernacle', as it is also sometimes known, is one of only a few buildings of its type in Ireland.