On The Tourist Trail at Easter

The Easter School Holidays and Bank Holiday arrived, for a busy family that meant four days of day trips and touring around doing as much as possible together as we could.

Daily picnics, cycling, walking, sightseeing, two days of National Trust properties and Easter Egg Trails ensued, across Counties Antrim, Down and Londonderry.

One of the spots we recently visited was the Springhill Estate in County Londonderry which has an interesting costume museum and a good ghost story. One particular bedroom is believed to be haunted by a previous lady of the house. The story as we heard it is that the woman's husband was considered to have committed suicide in the bedroom. A later visitor to the house reported a noise from behind the bed and an apparition in the room. Many years later the bed moved was moved to a different spot and the room stripped for redecoration. A secret door was discovered. The door led to a staircase and at the bottom of the staircase a sachet of gunpowder and a pair of gloves with the initials of the lady of the house. Is our ghost mourning the death of her husband or visiting the spot of a more sinister event she was involved in? I will leave that to your sleuthing skills and imagine. It is a genteel house, not as grand as the large mansion houses but has a homely feel to it whilst imitating some features of the larger estates. You can read more about it on the National Trust website and I found this blog post about the ghost stories.

We also enjoyed a visit along the Antrim Coast, which will be appearing in the new novel I am working on (Thread of Life) and across the Glens to Coleraine.

A few pictures from our travels, including the Dark Hedges which took quite a few detours through the village of Stranocum to find, but was appreciated by the avid Game of Thrones members of the family.

We also visited Castle Ward and Tullymore Forest over the Easter break, two other sites used to film Game of Thrones. For anyone interested in the locations which have been used for the series you may like this link from Discover NI.

Springhill Estate

Tullymore

Shimna River, Tullymore

Mount Stewart

Mount Stewart

Dark Hedges (or King's Road)

Coleraine from Mountsandel

Castlewellan Forest Park

Castlewellan Forest

Seaforde Gardens

Near the village of Seaforde in County Down a balmy oasis shelters some stunning butterflies. Seaforde Gardens is home to a tropical butterfly house, two joined glasshouses, one containing butterflies and the other reptiles, fish and birds.

We've visited lots of times before and on other occasions we've visited the grounds and maze, as well as the butterfly house. There are separate charges for anyone thinking of visiting. Today we stayed in the warmth of the tropical houses, apart from a brief sojourn for the kids to clamber around the play area. The butterflies are free flying and were quite happy to land on their visitors. The kids always enjoy checking on the cabinets of cocoons and today we saw a recently freed butterfly drying its new wings.

The other highlight are the peacocks and peahens which wander freely around the gardens. They were out in force today, the boys doing a great deal of showing off for the girls. The rustle of their showy tails could be heard all around as they vibrated them.

A butterfly making the most of the oranges dotted around the butterfly house

Enjoying a bowl of nectar

A peacock showing off for the peahens

If you click on this photo you should be able to see another peacock with his tail feathers on display in the background

      
http://www.seafordegardens.com/index.php?id=1

Snowy Mourne Mountains

Wednesday 27th March and we woke to a good covering of snow. Between sick children and the last day of school, the kids didn't get out to enjoy it and by the time school was over it had melted. The dogs did enjoy rolling about in it.

Whilst it didn't last long in my area, I live near the Mourne Mountains and can see they are still completely white and covered with snow. Friday night, avalanche warnings were given out for some of them. The roads are clear and the mountains are now passable so we took a drive through them on Saturday afternoon. I've included some photos, below, showing our journey, heading for Spelga dam, via Hilltown and down to Kilkeel, driving back through Bryansford.

The contrast between the green lower lands and the pure white of the high Mournes, as they meld with the sky was spectacular. We had some fun with snowballs and watched the sledgers and snow-boarders making the most of the remaining snow.

There has been a lot of news coverage about the hardships faced by so many throughout Northern Ireland in this unseasonal cold snap. The height of the snow pushed to the sides of the road and still covering some houses, brought home how difficult it's been for some people.

The wall of Spelga Dam

Partially Frozen Dam

Ice In The Dam

Sledgers By Spelga Dam

The mountain ahead was covered in sledgers and some snow boarders. Photo also shows the height of snow pushed off the road.

Mountains, dam and sky melding

Tops of a snow covered fence

Irish Sea and Kilkeel in the distance

Near Bryansford & Tollymore