Joan Porter wrote ‘48 hours in County Down’
A freelance journalist and arts PR, Joan writes for the Antiques Trade Gazette and other journals. She lives in a village beside Strangford Lough in Northern Ireland.
‘I own a vivid landscape by the Belfast-born artist James Humbert Craig that I inherited from my father. Painted in 1933, Arranmore from the Rosses depicts a rural scene in County Donegal. It’s magical.’
Lying south of Belfast is County Down, a landscape shaped by mountain, drumlin and lough. Here lie the Mourne Mountains and the stunning Strangford Lough. The lough, do ed with 100 small islands, is a bird and seal-watching paradise. It is almost entirely embraced by the Ards Peninsula, the gentle edges of which are referred to as ‘the glazed foreshore’ in Seamus Heaney’s lyrical poem The
Peninsula. This 140-mile round trip takes in two of Northern Ireland’s most majestic estates, a visit to Down Cathedral and a scenic drive beside the lough. There’s also a browse through antiques shops centred around a picturesque courtyard alongside a ruined Cistercian monastery. This is a mix-and-match driving itinerary and visitors may want to adapt it to stay longer – or indeed forever.
DAY ONE: ANTIQUES
& ARCHITECTURE
AM From Belfast City Airport drive south-east to the small town of Comber on the western shores of Strangford Lough. Head to Castle Street o the main square and into The Natural
Room Emporium, an atmospheric antiques and vintage shop selling quirky pieces such as taxidermy peacocks and haberdashery cabinets. It has a pop-up art gallery too
(thenaturalroom.co.uk). Also in Castle Street, if you fancy a lunchtime picnic with some Irish cheeses, check out
Indie Fude, an award-winning independent deli (indiefude.com).
PM A scenic route out of Comber takes you to the tranquil and spiritual 5th-century Nendrum Monastic Site, set in a beautiful spot over a causeway on the edge of the lough. Make your way west to the village of Saint eld. Check out Agar Antiques and David
Flynn Antiques, both on the Main Street and both on Facebook.
Fancy tea beside a log re in a tipi? Via Killyleagh with its Bavarian schloss-style castle, Fodder NI is a farm shop-cum-cafe in a woodland and lakeside se ing at Finnebrogue Woods. Head on to Downpatrick, County Down’s capital, and make for English Street, crammed with Georgian houses. High on a hill past
Via Killyleagh with its Bavarian schloss-style castle is a farm shop-cumcafe in a woodland and lakeside se ing.
Down County Museum at the end of the street see the imposing Down Cathedral and the believed grave of St Patrick, Ireland’s patron saint.
DAY TWO: SENSE OF ATMOSPHERE
AM If staying overnight in Downpatrick, start the morning by heading east towards Strangford. Shortly before the village is the National Trust’s 18th-century Castle
Ward (Winterfell in Game of Thrones) set in 800 acres of stunning countryside overlooking the lough
(nationaltrust.org.uk/castle-ward). An architectural eccentricity, the building features both Gothic Revival and Palladian styles, with the headspinning contrasts continuing inside, down to the furnishings. Stop for lunch in the village at The Artisan Cookhouse, a bistro serving local produce including sh from Strangford Lough and locally grown vegetables.
Seals are a blissful sight on the lough and a few miles out of Strangford on the Ardglass road you may well spot a seal colony lazing on Cloghy Rocks.
PM A particular highlight here is the eight-minute car/passenger ferry that runs every 30 minutes each way from Strangford to the village of Portaferry at the southern tip of the Ards
Peninsula on the opposite shore. Sit outside the pink-washed Portaferry
Hotel as many do and watch the boats in the small marina and gaze across the lough at the 15th-century Audley’s
Castle. The sunsets are legendary. From Portaferry, drive north along the atmospheric narrow shore road past Ballyhenry Island to the workshop of artist Cecilia Stephens in
Bishops Mill, whose handwoven textiles are inspired by the spirit of the landscape. Open by appointment (ceciliastephens@gmail.com).
From here, take the main road towards Newtownards. This is one of the nest coastal journeys in Northern Ireland. It hugs the lough along its distance with many picnic spots on the way and with the Mourne Mountains ‘stretching down to the sea’ as a backdrop on the opposite shore. An essential stop is the village of
Greyabbey for its ruined 12th-century
Cistercian monastery and physic garden and where antiques hunters are in for a treat with 11 antiques and vintage shops to drool over. Seven are grouped in the a ractive Hoops
Courtyard: Archway Antiques, Times Past Antiques, Old Priory Antiques, Salty’s Antiques, Greyabbey Collectables, Balloo Moon and Janet Greeves. The Courtyard Cafe serves great co ee and delicious scones and tartlets. The Old Courthouse, Gold sh Antiques, The Eclectic House and Lola Blue Vintage are nearby. Most are open Wednesday, Friday and Saturday.
Keep hugging the shoreline and you’ll hit upon one of Northern Ireland’s great country houses. Built
in the 18th and 19th centuries, the National Trust’s Mount Stewart has a splendid interior that includes George Stubbs’ 1799 painting of the celebrated racehorse Hambletonian. But it is the formal and informal gardens that are the main a ractions. These were laid out over 40 years by the remarkable Edith, Lady Londonderry (1878-1959), a passionate advocate for women’s su rage. A place of u er enchantment is the
Dodo Terrace with its stone animal statues, including dodos, gri ns and monkeys, lovely to gaze upon and with a rich history that is well worth investigating.
(nationaltrust.org.uk/mount-stewart)