National Trust - Hezlett House, Downhill Demesne and Mussenden Temple

On Sunday i decided to take advantage of the good weather and my National Trust membership by visiting somewhere I have never been - Mussenden Temple. Perhaps naively I thought there was just the Temple but for your entrance fee (if non-member) you also get access to Hezlett House (on the turn-off to Castlerock), Downhill Demesne (impressive ruins) and various other features within the grounds.
On the drive up from Belfast I came across Hezlett House first, if i am honest I noticed the National Trust signs and went in for a nosey. Hewlett House is a pretty cottage which is furnished how it would have been when occupied by the Hewlett family who ran a dairy farm on the land. As well as the family history local legend has it that a Highway Man called Cushy Glen was hanged from a tree in the garden for crimes committed on Windchill Road.

'Hezlett House'






                                                 'The Hanging Tree'




After around 20 minutes or so exploring the house I headed up the road to Downhill. As I discovered there are two entrances to the Demesne/Temple, Bishops Gate and Lions Gate, we chose the Lions Gate as it has a carpark and various picnic tables!! After exploring the walled garden, ice house and dovecote, we had our picnic, dodged some wasps and started the walk up to the Temple. The first thing you come across on the walk up are the impressive ruins of Downhill Demesne, built in the 18th Century by the Bishop of Derry, this is a large complex of ruins and my nephew could have spent hours exploring and letting his imagination run wild!!!!

As it was we had a quick look around and headed on down to the Temple which was originally designed as a library. I don't say this very often but wow, I think this is now my favourite place in Northern Ireland, the views were incredible (helped by the blue skies), you could see for miles over the golden beaches of Portstewart and Downhill and across to the hills of Donegal; I could really understand why so many people have their wedding pictures taken here!
Word of warning though, it is very high up and right on the edge of a cliff (apparently you used to be able to ride a horse and carriage around it) so if you are afraid of heights be wary, a girl inside the Temple was forcing herself to look outside the window!

After a few pics (including the essential selfie) we headed back to the car and on to Downhill Beach. From here we headed back up the hill to the Bishops Gate entrance, there is limited parking at this entrance and its botanical feel is in stark contrast to the wild feel of Lions Gate; I even got a mini tour of the rare trees and plant life by the NT Ranger Paul (both Paul and Eoin were extremely friendly and knowledgeable).  It's at this entrance you will find the Bishops Trail children's area, essentially a wooden obstacle course and if there wasn't a family on it I would have been tempted to have a go myself!
If any of you like to keep a memento of your visits you can purchase a National Trust Passport at a cost of £4 which you can get stamped at each property (you will get two stamps here, 1 for Mussenden Temple and the other for Hezlett House).
Disabled access - Quite hilly and loose gravel/grassy paths so would be difficult for wheelchairs, my dad also had to stop for a breather on the way back up from the Temple.
Children's activities - Bishop's Trail play area and 50 Things to do before 11 3/4.
Entrance Fee - Non NT Trust members; Adult £4.95, Child £2.50, Family £12.40 (keep your receipts as there are different entrance points)
I really enjoyed my day here and would recommend a visit.

The Giant's Lair - Slieve Gullion

I had initially planned a lazy Sunday but when mum suggested a trip to Slieve Gullion to hunt for fairies I jumped at the chance! All 7 of us gathered together (in a two car convoy) and headed down the motorway towards Newry. Just over an hour later and a nervous moment when I thought I had missed the turning (for any of you driving from Belfast it is the last exit before you cross the border sign posted Slieve Gullion Forest Park) we arrived at the car park which was extremely busy but there were two available disabled spaces beside each other, handy as we had mum and granny with us; if the car park is full there is a park and ride facility available from Johnny Murphy's Bar and Restaurant (clearly signposted).
First stop for me was the public toilet, unfortunately I was out of luck because the ladies were all out of order, there were two available porta-loos and a disabled toilet but as you can imagine the queue was rather long!!!
After a pit stop at the ice cream van for a 99 we headed off to start the Fairy Trail through the Giant's Lair.

After walking through the Big Red Door you arrive in Fairy Land with various little houses, a washing line and even a rope bridge! The houses are cleverly themed with the Tooth fairies house shaped like a tooth, the cobblers a boot, the music fairy a guitar and so on.  There are lots of little houses and doors to explore and other visitors have left the fairies dummies and coins as gifts! Unfortunately the fairies were shy so we continued on with the trail, which took us past more wee houses, a huge metal storybook, a giant witch carved from a tree, and a giant table and chair (the chair is overturned so I think the giant heard us coming and ran away).  At one point we heard wind chimes but couldn't tell where they were coming from, so we were all convinced that the fairies were having a party (we found a large set of wind chimes further on up the trail). The path is pretty steep in places and as you are exploring in and around the trees I would advise wearing wellies or shoes you don't mind getting dirty as it is very muddy underfoot!
I also noticed that halfway round the path my phone changed to a Southern network (Meteor) so be careful of roaming charges.
The path is about a mile long and I would advise starting at the path closest to the courtyard (there is an information board here) as it is a more gradual climb, the other end is much steeper and a family we met on the way down were struggling with their buggy!
We had two disabled visitors with us and there was no way any of us could have pushed them around the trail on their manual wheelchairs, luckily they are happy to wait in the car and read their kindles.
At the end of the trail there is a large play park which my nephew would have happily stayed in for hours, instead he got 20 mins before we had to head back home.
(Selection of photos below)

As well as the Giant's Lair there is a Scenic Forest drive and various other walking trails which we didn't do! This a free day out and if you got the weather you could easily spend a few hours here with a picnic, just be wary of the mud and the steep paths if bringing a buggy!!

 Now its time to plan my next trip, until next time....

SS Nomadic - Belfast

After a trip to Build a Bear in Belfast City Centre, me and my 6 year old nephew decided we weren't quite ready to go home yet so we decided to go and visit the SS Nomadic the last remaining White Star Vessel which is housed in the Hamilton Dry dock adjacent to Titanic Belfast.
We tried to book online (while having lunch in KFC) but unfortunately their internet site was down so we got back in the car and headed to the Titanic Quarter hoping that there were still tickets available.
When we arrived we parked in the underground car park at Titanic Belfast and headed over to the dry dock to see if there were any tickets available; as luck would have it the next tour was due to start in 5 mins and at that point we were the only visitors so we paid for our tickets (£7 Adult, £5 Child) and my nephew was given an activity sheet to complete during the Tour (he had to look for certain characters, and answer various questions on the Nomadic).

We sat down in the 1st class reception area and the Tour Guide introduced himself (Tom) and gave us a bit of background to the Nomadic, at this point we were joined by a family from Chicago and we started our Tour of the ship.
Tom was very friendly and knowledgeable and made a real effort to learn my nephews name and include him in all aspects of the Tour.
The Nomadic was built by Harland and Wolff by the same men who built the Titanic, and she was used to ferry First and Second class passengers from Cherbourg out to Titanic, including The Unsinkable Molly Brown (character played by Kathy Bates in Titanic). As you can imagine the Titanic story does play its part in the Tour but it is only a very small part of the the Nomadic's history which saw action in both World Wars and ferried some very famous faces (including Charlie Chaplin,  Marie Curie and Elizabeth Taylor) out to ships like the Queen Mary and Queen Elizabeth.
The Guided Tour lasts approx 55 mins and afterwards you get as much time as you like to explore the ship (you don't have to complete the Guided Tour and audio guides are available). The Nomadic is restored to how it would have looked in 1912 and contains various interactive exhibits including a holographic barman and various dressing up costumes (for adults and children).
My nephew really enjoyed the trail (searching for characters) and spent a good amount of time playing a computer game attempting to line up the Nomadic with the Titanic (I found it quite difficult). After trying on various costumes, life jackets and playing games we decided to head home and my nephew received a personalised certificate for successfully completing the trail.
The staff were absolutely brilliant with my nephew and he came away amazed that they knew his name; Tom was a brilliant Guide and really brought the story to life.
(selection of pics below)

On the way back to the car we decided to do the Robots exhibition (an exhibition of various robots from TV and Film) in Titanic Belfast (on to 13th September), the admission price is £6 Adult and £3 Child, but because we visited the Nomadic on the same day we got a £2 discount, and my nephew received a small robot toy as a gift. As with the Nomadic he was given an activity sheet for which he needed to find various different robots, including C3PO and the Terminator. It took us around 15 mins to view the exhibition and on exit we were presented with yet another personalised certificate for completing the Trail!
It was back to the car (which cost £3.50 for 2.5 hrs) where my nephew promptly passed out and allowed me to drive home in peace!!
We really enjoyed our day at the Nomadic and the staff helped make it very special, if anyone from the Nomadic is reading this - Thank You!
Admission Price - £7 (Adult) £5 (Child 5-16) £5 (Concession) £20 (Family)
Disabled Access - The Nomadic is geared up for disabled access however there are some areas which will not be accessible including the Flying Bridge Deck, those with limited mobility may find access to some areas difficult as there are steps and uneven flooring.
Children's Activity - Character Trail (look for characters places around the ship) and trivia questions, certificate received on successful completion.

Crumlin Road Gaol - Belfast

It was Auntie and Nephew day on Saturday so he got to choose where to go, and on this occasion it was Crumlin Road Gaol!
I pre-booked the tickets online and got them for £7.50 (adult) and £5.50 (child) which worked out at a discount of £1 per ticket, mind you I was charged a £1 booking fee so the discount was more like 50p each.
When we arrived we headed to the car park which was very large and had plenty of disabled parking available (we went on an early tour so as the only car there we had plenty of choice).  We arrived early and had a little time before our 10am tour so we took advantage of the stocks at the front of the building and ended up with some rather interesting photos (stocks shown below - I have spared you from our photos!!!)

Photos taken, we exchanged our printed tickets for red wristbands (which indicated that we were part of the 10am tour) and headed to the gift shop/museum to wait for our Guide.
At 9.55 our Tour guide arrived brought us into a room, where he introduced himself (Gavin), explained how the Tour would work and gave us some background on the Gaol. As the Tour kicked off we started in the reception area where the prisoners were registered, Gavin was very friendly and showed plenty of Belfast banter which the tourists of our group (Americans, Germans, French and Irish) seemed to enjoy; my 6 year old nephew on the other hand got embarrassed when he was jokingly told off for laughing in Gaol and the resulting tears took a while to settle, after apologies from Gavin and reassurances from me that he was fine, the tour moved on to the main building which contains the Governors Office and C-Wing which includes a variety of cells laid out as they would have been from Victorian times right through the 70s/80s, a padded cell, and the Condemned Man's Cell.
The Tour consists of many interesting anecdotes and does include stories of the executions carried out in the Gaol and the hangman's noose is in situ. Gavin did let us know ahead of time that executions would be discussed and gave us the option of skipping this part of the Tour, my 6 year old nephew did visit the Condemned Mans Cell and the 'Execution Chamber'  but opted out of the Drop Cell below, we waited in C-Wing while Gavin took the rest of the Group downstairs.
The Tour continued outside to the Grave site and again there were many interesting stories of the prisoners and their escape attempts throughout the years. The Tour finishes back at the Gift Shop where you can access the Tunnel (which previously linked the Gaol to Crumlin Road Courthouse, which is unfortunately now derelict). We were able to explore the Tunnel by ourselves and we walked as far as we could before turning back and spending our hard earned money on some souvenirs!!
(Selection of photos included below)

 I thoroughly enjoyed my trip to Crumlin Road Gaol but would exercise caution if intending to bring young or sensitive children along!!
Admission Prices if paid on site: £8.50 (Adult) £6.50 (Child) £7 (Concession 60+, student) £25 (Family 2 Adults and 2 Children)
Online Prices: £7.50, £5.50, £6.00 & £22.
Tour Duration - Approx 1 hr 15 minutes
Disabled Access - Plenty of disabled parking available & wheelchairs available for hire with a £10 deposit. The majority of the Tour is wheelchair accessible with the exception of the Tunnel and Drop Cell, Crumlin Road Gaol do say that the Guides will ensure disabled visitors get the most out of their visit.
Coffee Shop available on site
Gift Shop on site
Overall its a thumbs up from me and I would recommend a visit if you can!!!!!

Festival of Archaeology - Dunluce Castle (Guest spot)

Armed with a picnic and the promise of a sunny day I headed off to Dunluce Castle. This is a place I often pass in the car but haven't visited in living memory but today was going to change that. Upon arriving at the Castle we were told the car park was full (although there were disabled spaces available of required) and there was a free bus service running from the Magheracross car park (10 mins walk away) to the Castle.

At the car park we were told there was a Medieval day going on, this just added to the excitement. Before boarding the bus to the Castle we made use of one of the picnic tables and ate our picnic whilst enjoying the beautiful views which included Portballintrae and White Rocks Beach.

Fed and watered the next stop was the Castle. Outside the entrance of the Castle there was a lovely tea room and they also had a bbq going for those that didn't bring a picnic. Entrance to Dunluce was £6 for Adults, £3 for children and £15 for a family ticket. As it was Medieval day there was lots going on and lots to see, there were archaeology and geology tours running every hour, displays of old musical instruments, a blacksmith, candle making and much more; for those with more modern tastes there was also a coffee van and a crepe maker! Further inside the walls 3 gentlemen in authentic dress were in charge of a cannon which they fired every hour. We decided the archaeology tour would suit us better so with 45 mins to wait for the next tour we went on our own adventure. What a wonderful Castle we were to find. There is an app you can download which gives you an idea of what each room was used for. If you don't have the app there are audio guides for hire at the entrance desk.
The archaeology tour took us not round the castle but on a tour of the lost tour of Dunluce. This was extremely interesting and gave us an insight into what the town on the 'outside' of the castle walls was like hundreds of years ago. We also saw pictures of the excavation and were given a small history lesson on who lived in the Castle around this time. We had a great day and would certainly recommend a visit!!

Editors notes - Game of Thrones fans may recognise Dunluce Castle as the House of Greyjoy overlooking Pyke on the Iron Islands.

Ulster New Zealand Trust at The Ballance House (Strawberry Tea Fair)

Due to prior committments I couldn't stray too far from home this weekend, so when I got a phone call to pick something up in Moira I decided to 'kill two birds with one stone' and call into The Ballance House in Glenavy on the way home.
The Ballance House was the birthplace of John Ballance who was the Prime Minister of New Zealand between 1891-1893, and even though I was born and raised approx 10 miles down the road I didn't even know it existed!!

When we visited they were holding their annual Strawberry Tea Fair, and the three of us were charged £5 each for an entry fee (this included a bowl of strawberries, a bouncy castle, balloon modelling, crafts for the kids and face painting), for an additional £2.50 I got a guided tour of the house itself. While waiting on the tour to start (they were leaving at 1pm, 2pm and 3pm) we had a cuppa and a scone in the Tea Barn (quite reasonable and old fashioned with a biscuit tin for a till).
The guided tour of the house lasted an hour and at times was quite interesting and I never realised that there were so many links between Ireland and New Zealand for example, Ireland provided NZ with 6 Prime Ministers, the original owner of Hunter Wines was from Co Tyrone and the first ever captain of the All Blacks Rugby Team was Irish!!!!!!
John Ballance himself was a very important figure in NZ history both with Maori rights and he was instrumental in ensuring that NZ was the first Country in the world to give women the vote.
The following events are running at Ballance House in the second half of 2015; Anzac Day Ceremony 9th August, Apple day 17th October and Victorian Christmas Market 5th December. On non-event days the entrance prices are as follows: Adult £3, Child under 16 50p.
Disabled accessibility - When we arrived there were no available disabled spaces however on a quiet day it may be possible to get a space closer to the house. The house itself is two stories so if you have problems getting up stairs you won't be able to view the New Zealand exhibition, John Ballance's chair or the NZ reference library.
if you are interested in the NZ connection it may be worth a visit but go on a non-event day so you don't have to pay twice.
Opening hours - April - September, Wednesday, Sundays and Bank Holidays 2-5pm.

On a side note, anyone who knows me knows I love food and cooking and going to Moira gives me a chance to go to the Meat Merchant owned by Hannan's Meat, an excellent wholesale butchers who supply a number of top restaurants in Belfast, definitely worth a visit!!!!!!
Just the one location this weekend, I am now trying to decide whether to join the National Trust, so let me know if you think it's worth it?!
Until next time............

Antrim Castle Gardens and The People's Park Ballymena

Having got the 'Tourist Bug' I got out my map on Sunday morning, packed a picnic and along with my Mum, Sister and 6 year old nephew headed out on my next trip, this time to Clotworthy House and Antrim Castle Gardens (admission free).
What started as a cloudy day soon changed when we arrived in Antrim, the sun came out allowing us to sit outside in the courtyard for a nice cuppa (and sausage roll - very tasty and good value for money) from the cafe.
When we finished our refreshment break we headed to the shop where we discovered by pure fluke that they had a Mobility scooter available for members of Shop Mobility (free of charge), this was great news for us as we had thought mum would have to wait for us in the car!!!!!! The shop also offers visitors the chance to rent a 'Castle Carriage' (essentially a 3/4 person bicycle) which you can rent for £6 for 45 minutes along with photo ID, if you don't have ID a £50 deposit is required.
Scooter rented and armed with a map clearly marked with accessible paths we set off for a walk through the gardens. This was my first visit and I was very impressed, beautiful gardens as well as castle ruins made an archaeology graduate very happy (some pics below).

 When we had walked around the whole estate (for those health conscious among you it worked out at 7500 steps) it was lunchtime and there was plenty of time left in the day to tick another location of the list, so it was back in the car and off to the People's Park in Ballymena.
After accidentally putting the wrong address into the sat nav we eventually arrived at the Park just in time to get  99 from the ice cream man!! While my sister went to the Pavilion to buy a bag of bird seed (<£1) I read the welcome sign which explained the 'Teddy Toddle', a walk around the park guided by Teddy bear signs. Sister back with bird seed in hand we set off to feed the ducks at the lake out the back of the Pavilion (there is a decked area with a fence separating the pavilion from the lake, steps were provided for small children so they could throw the seeds to the ducks) and complete the walk (approx 1k), this took you round the lake, past the tennis courts, bowling green and past an art installation of 5 giant apples by a Japanese artist.

If you are in the Ballymena area it is a great wee park with a decent play area and a few picnic tables, worth a visit if you have the time. This was a great day in the sun topped off with a lovely dinner in Galgorm Manor on the way home!!!
Now time to plan for the next day out!