Mitchelstown

Mitchelstown is a town in Co Cork. It is situated in a valley to the south of the Galtee Mountains, close to the Mitchelstown Caves. It is 28km from Cahir, 50km from Cork City and 59km from Limerick. The River Gradoge runs by the town into the River Funshion, which in turn is a tributary of the River Blackwater. The town is best known as a centre for cheese production. The town is situated close to the M8 Dublin to Cork motorway, which runs to the east and can be accessed from Junctions 12 and 13. A relief road located to the west of the town serves to filter N73 traffic towards Mallow and R513 traffic towards Limerick. The construction of the relief road to the west and north, and its connection in 2009 to the M8 to the east of Mitchelstown means that the town has become the smallest in Ireland to have a full 360-degree ring road. The R665 road connects Mitchelstown to Clonmel, while the former N8 now redesignated as the R639 provides an alternative route from Mitchelstown to Cork, Fermoy and Cahir. Mitchelstown has a wide variety of retail outlets such as Tesco, Lidl, Aldi, Super Valu, Centra and Boots. Mitchelstown also has a variety of shops, butchers, cafes, boutiques and restaurants. Bus Éireann runs frequent intercity services through the town providing a service to both Dublin and Cork. One of the area's biggest attractions is the Indiependence Music and Arts Festival, which takes place on the August Bank Holiday weekend each year.