Toomebridge

Alexandra Park

Dunmore · 12 miles

A Victorian-era green space in north Belfast provides a formal landscape of tree-lined avenues and designated play areas for children. Managed by Belfast City Council, the park’s opening hours are listed publicly, allowing visitors to plan a visit at their convenience. Although the nearest town identified in mapping data is Dunmore, the site lies within the city’s northern districts, offering a typical 19th-century park setting for local families and walkers. The park is notable for a three-metre high wall that bisects the grounds, a feature described as unique within western Europe. Erected in 1994 as part of the city’s “peace walls,” the barrier was intended to reduce sectarian violence between Nationalist/Republican and Unionist/Loyalist communities. Its foundations were laid on 1 September 1994, coinciding with the first IRA ceasefire. Access to the northern section was originally limited to Antrim Road, while the southern part could only be reached from Shore Road. In September 2011 a gate was installed in the wall; during a three-month trial it operated on weekdays from 09:00 to 15:00. By 2026 the gate has remained open continuously, linking the two halves of the park at all times. The presence of the wall and the open gate together illustrate the park’s evolving role in the city’s social landscape while retaining its historic recreational facilities.

Belvoir Park Forest

Stranmillis · 15 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 · 17 miles

B-17 WWII Crash Memorial

Ben Madigan · 11 miles

A memorial to the ten crew members of a B-17 which crashed into Cave Hill on the 1st June 1944 when flying through cloud while attempting to land at Nutts Corner airport. The story of this event inspired the 2007 movie "Closing the Ring".

O'Haughan's Cave

Greenisland · 12 miles

Cave attributed to Naoise O'Haughan, 18th Century highwayman (approximate location). Access currently very difficult.

Deck Outline

Titanic Quarter · 13 miles

The physical footprint of the Titanic's upper deck is traced on the ground in white granite, with illuminated blue lines marking the exact positions of lifeboats, funnels, and benches