The barren, limestoned, lunar-like "Burren" is a region in the northernmost section of County Clare. Despite its harsh appearance, this 150 square mile area has been inhabited since before the Stone Age - as attested to by its many ancient forts & large tombs. The Burren appears so harsh that one of Cromwell's generals called it: Savage land, yielding neither water enough to drown a man, nor a tree to hang him, nor soil enough to bury him. But if you take the time to look more closely, you can see that the Burren actually supports an array of life. In the nooks and crannies of the limestone grows a variety of botany. Flowers both native to Alpine climates (due to the lean soil) and the Mediteranian (due to the heat the rocks retain) neighbor each other. And life isn't limited to plants: gingerly stepping goats graze on what grass that takes root. The Burren Center in Kilfenora is an excellent resource for finding out more on the region's unusual ecosystem.