Loved Tollymore Forest Park (Co Down) - And we do not even follow Game of Thrones!

Last week I talked about our visit to Castlewellan Forest Park in County Down. That was one day of our 2day short trip to Northern Ireland. The second day we dedicated to fabulous Tollymore Forest Park...what a gem!

You may have not visited it, but probably have seen it on TV (because it's one of the places used to film Game of Thrones, the popular books TV series everybody has been talking about for the past years). According to Ireland.com (and I have to literally copy and paste as I do not follow the story) "The verdant and vibrant Tollymore Forest Park is where Theon is stalked by Ramsay Snow, and has been used to depict the snow-covered lands between Winterfell and the Wall." Hope that this makes sense to the followers!

I am a bit embarrassed to say we do NOT follow Game of Thrones, but just by looking at the entrance of this park, I can imagine why they chose it!

The Forest Park is right outside Newcastle. From Newcastle we found signs which indicated which direction to take, so if we found it easily, it's basically impossible to miss!

Right from the start, until you get to the car park (by the way, you have to pay 4 GBP if you're taking the car), the views are amazing - the park is located right in the foothills of the Mourne Mountains. While Dad was parking the car, the kids took the ball and started playing (World Cup has really "affected" them lately!), and I took some pictures. Just look:

The place is amazingly beautiful, isn't it?

We decided to take a walk (one of the ones which are marked in the map, the one along the river), so looked for some good walking sticks and started our journey. Very easy walk, we even saw families with buggies doing it, so do not be discouraged if you have younger kids who get tired easily - you can take the buggy with you.

The trail is lovely. Maybe because I knew about Game of Thrones I had the feeling of being transported to Medieval times when we got to the side of the river and started walking, as everything is so "natural": no signs of modern times there... all the bridges, seats, paths, have been built and maintained in such a way that the harmony with nature is complete. I know: I'm not Doisneau, and I always tell myself I have to learn to take good pics, specially when we visit places like Tollymore, but for now, I'll have to show you my best pictures, so you can at least get the idea.

Jaw dropping, I promise (the place, not the pictures, of course!). 

We even tried to make the "easy-peasy" trail more adventurous by crossing the river several times jumping from one stones to the next . Ended up with some wet feet, but with that "Indiana-Jones-like feeling that cannot be paid with a Master Card :-)

We walked for like 90 minutes (return), and then we had a rest at the picnic area to have some sandwiches and some drinks....and some more football, of course! (take your food and drink if you pay a visit to the park - the picnic area is big and very good).

The exit gate is as impressive! (I hope they took away those traffic signs if they filmed it for Game of Thrones though...)