Donaghcloney

Belvoir Park Forest

Stranmillis · 16 miles

Along the River Lagan, a 75-hectare urban woodland provides a rare example of a working forest within a city. Managed by the Forest Service and listed as a nature reserve, the site lies close to Stranmillis in Belfast, Northern Ireland. Its status as a working forest makes it unique across the United Kingdom, and it is recognised for the presence of red squirrels among its resident wildlife. The area opened to the public in 1961 after being incorporated into the former estate of the Hills family, who enclosed the land in the 1740s. Remnants of that period survive as farm buildings and an ice house built into a 12th-century Norman motte. The original house has been removed, its footprint now occupied by a car park. Within the grounds the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds maintains its Northern Ireland headquarters, and an arboretum holds some of Belfast’s oldest and most unusual trees, including around one hundred veteran oaks that can be up to 350 years old. Wildlife surveys record a range of species such as large bracket fungi, toothwort, giant hog-weed, long-eared owls, kingfishers, long-tailed tits, badgers and red foxes. Cycling is prohibited within the forest, but the car park offers a point of access for visitors wishing to explore the trails on foot.

Let's Go Hydro

Carryduff · 16 miles

Brownlow House

Lurgan · 4.3 miles

19th-century Elizabethan-style house; military HQ in WWI & WWII; now a museum and event venue

Rath

Laurelvale · 8.1 miles

Only visible from air.

Rath

Laurelvale · 8.1 miles

Visible from air only,

Red Kite Restreat

Closkelt · 11 miles

The Red Kite Retreat is Ireland's only red kite feeding and viewing station. The red kites are fed daily at 2pm. Viewing is from a hide. A charge applies.