Filming locations in Sligo

County Sligo, in Ireland's quietly beautiful north-west, gave Normal People its other half. Where Dublin supplied the university, this county of flat-topped mountains, surf beaches and Yeats country plays the small-town home the characters come from, and its wild strands carry some of the show's most reflective moments.

The location to seek out is Streedagh Beach, a long, unspoilt strand backed by dunes about thirty minutes north of Sligo town. It stands in for the windswept western coast of the characters' home, and it is free and open, the kind of vast, empty Atlantic beach that does its emotional work simply by being so wide and so quiet.

There are no facilities here, which is part of the point, so come prepared with what you need and let the walk be the whole of it. On a blustery day the strand stretches out under big skies with barely another soul in sight, exactly the mood the series reaches for whenever it brings its characters home from the city.

The setting around Streedagh is pure Yeats country. The flat-topped bulk of Benbulben mountain dominates the skyline inland, an unmistakable Sligo landmark, and the poet himself is buried a short way off in Drumcliffe churchyard, beneath his famous epitaph, which makes the literary detour an easy and fitting one.

Practically, Sligo is a couple of hours beyond Galway, so this is country for a relaxed drive rather than a rushed tick-list. Base in or near Sligo town, walk Streedagh for the screen connection and the sheer scale of it, then fold in Benbulben and Drumcliffe to round out a quietly memorable day on the north-west coast.