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Hillsborough, Co. Down

16km (10 m) south of Belfast, this very picturesque Georgian town boasts a steep main street, with antique and craft shops.

Across the town square the mansion house of Hillsborough Castle is visible, through a pair of impressive wrought iron gates. A prominent feature of the east and south approaches to Hillsborough is a five mile wall surrounding a lake and its adjoining forest.

At the gates of Hillsborough Castle is the Hillsborough heritage centre and visitors can find out more about the town at the Hillsborough Tourist centre (0044 28 92 689 717). The castle itself is a fine artillery fort, 270 square foot, built around 1650.

Hillsborough plays host to a heritage festival every year (0044 28 92 682 477), with battle re-enactments and an old time fair.

The 40 acre lake at Hillsborough offers anglers excellent brown and rainbow trout, with fishing spots set in the forest around the lake.

Featured Establishment

Eat

Pheasant, The

Hillsborough, Co. Down

Pub / Restaurant

Owned by the well know known Patterson brothers, Richard and William, since 1998, this ...

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Featured Establishment

Drink

Pheasant, The

Hillsborough, Co. Down

Pub / Restaurant

Owned by the well know known Patterson brothers, Richard and William, since 1998, this ...

more...

Gardens

Annas House and Garden - Comber County Down Northern Ireland

Anna's House & Garden

Comber, Co. Down

Anna and Ken Johnson’s charming house near Strangford Lough looks over their own ten-acre wildfowl lake to the rolling north Down countryside, and not only does it make a comfortable base for visits to major County Down gardens three Nati ...

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Golf

Royal County Down Golf Club

Newcastle, Co. Down
Course Type: Links

Widely regarded as one of the finest links courses in the world, Royal County Down has an appropriate setting at Newcastle, where the Mountains of Mourne sweep down to the sea. For more than 100 years it had nestled on classic duneland, in the sh ...

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Self Catering

The Colonel's Lodge

Holywood, Co. Down

The Colonel's Lodge is set in the garden of Beech Hill Country House bed and breakfast. It is a converted grain store with a small double bedroom under the rafters in an open gallery upstairs , a small single bedroom dow ...

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What's On

Castlewellan Farmers Market - Co Down - Saturdays

Castlewellan Farmers Market - Saturday 10am-1pm

Castlewellan Community Centre

Contact:

Tara Haughian +44 (0)28 4377 8655 tara@secondnature.ie

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Tourist Attractions

Museum at the Mill

Newtownabbey, Co. Antrim

Museum at The Mill invites visitors of all ages to explore the history and learn about the heritage of Mossley Mill, a flax spinning mill in County Antrim which dates back to the early 1800s. Housed within what was originally the wet spinning ...

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Wedding Venues

Clandeboye Estate

Bangor, Co. Down

The beauty of this romantic wedding venues that it is still a private estate, and there will never be more than one wedding held here on any day. There is a church on the estate, but it is not available for public use; however, there are churches ...

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