Coastal Adventures in Dundrum, Co. Down

Over the weekend a couple of my friends and I went on a little adventure to a place called Dundrum in Co. Down, a little town on the coast surrounded by the Mourne Mountains. We went up in the early evening on Saturday night so we were there whenever the sun started to set, which was beautiful, especially because the moon was so bright. We parked the car and headed down the pathway through Murlough National Nature Reserve towards the beach. It started getting dark quite quickly after we arrived so that was the only part of our trip I really managed to capture (my camera isn't great in the dark), but since Robin Williams's death my friend Chris (who was still a nutcase before this) has been moved to "suck the marrow" out of life- a reference from Williams's role in "the Dead Poets' Society"- so as soon as we reached the beach, he stripped down in the pitch black and ran half-naked into the sea. He has since caught a cold, but fair play to him I guess, I think we could all do with sucking the marrow a little more, because let's face it, life is short! I think Robin William's sudden death has really proven that to all of us in these last few weeks. I've certainly been thinking about it anyway.

When Chris had enough of frolicking around in the water and had dried himself off we headed back and up to Dundrum Castle which sits on a grassy hill overlooking the town. The castle was built by John De Courcy, an Anglo-Norman knight, during his conquest of Ulster around the turn of the 13th Century. As like many of the castles in Ireland, Dundrum Castle is now in ruins but at one time it was a strong and imposing structure, passed through the hands of kings, knights and earls over the course of its time, and so is seeped in history. If you'd like to read a bit more, I found this little PDF from Northern Ireland's Department of the Environment. I'll confess, the castle is pretty creepy in the dark and I was a little bit nervous but we still went up and had a good wander round anyways! Because it was so dark though the stars were really bright which was nice.

After that little adventure we headed back home (though not before stopping for a cheeky McDonald's!) and I went straight to my bed. It was a really lovely, fun night though, I really want to do it again soon!

14

Scenes | The Ulster Folk and Transport Museum, Cultra

I'm not sure if folk parks are a 'thing' outside of Ireland or what their equivalent is in the rest of the world (I remember going to something similar in Ballarat in Victoria, Australia - Sovereign Hill, anyone?) but we have a couple of them in Northern Ireland. Basically they're what I would describe as outdoor living history museums full of old buildings- banks, farms houses, cottages, printing presses, you name it, all dating from a certain period in local history that you can wander around and experience how the people of the time would have lived. The parks also often have employees in period dress  in the various houses demonstrating different skills and trades from the time, such as basket weaving or spinning wool.

One of these parks, The Ulster Folk and Transport Museum isn't too far from me but I hadn't been in years and years, not since I was little. However, my family and I decided to do something a little different yesterday afternoon and pay a visit.

This museum actually has two parts, as the name suggests, there's the folk park and then there's the transport museum which houses various old cars, trains and buses from the past 100 years or so up to the present day. There's also a Titanic exhibition as well. However, we were a little tight for time yesterday so we only made it around the folk park and even then there was still a lot of things we didn't get to see! You'd definitely need to allow yourself the full day if you were ever thinking of visiting. I think they recommend you allow 1-2 hours for the village part of the folk part, 2-3 hours for the rural part and then another couple of hours to get around the transport part of the museum.

I realised as I was uploading that I didn't take many photos of the interiors of the different houses. I guess I didn't want to overload you with pictures and I wasn't sure if it would interest anyone but I did take a few photos just so you could get a bit of a feel for the place!

I'd definitely recommend a visit to the Ulster Folk and Transport Museum if you're ever in the area!

12

Seaforde Tropical Butterfly House

It was quite a nice day yesterday so my family and I decided to take a trip to the Seaforde Gardens and Tropical Butterfly House, which as the name suggests is a sort of estate with beautiful gardens and a butterfly house where they have all these exotic species of butterflies, birds and reptiles. My mum used to take my sister and I there all the time when we were little but we hadn't actually been there for years and years now so it was a bit of a blast from the past, and a nice little break from work since I'm off at the minute for the bank holiday weekend!

Inside the butterfly house, as well as all the butterflies, in a beautiful array of bright colours, there's also an abundance of gorgeous tropical plants and flowers, it almost has the look and feel of a jungle or rainforest, especially with the sound of the water features and the birds chirping and whistling. It would be my absolute dream to own a garden as beautiful as this someday. 

Also, in one of the sections there was a koi pond full of fish with all these turtles just laying around on the rocks looking very thoughtful, as well as lots of beautiful exotic birds in enclosures around the outside. They looked happy enough and very well cared for, but it always makes me kind of sad to see birds in cages. 

When you come out of the butterfly house, on the grounds outside there is a maze and a beautiful vast walled garden with lots of nooks, crannies and hidden pathways as well as all these peacocks just wandering about! 

When we were going through the maze my mum started "doing a Hansel and Gretel" as she called it- i.e. picking leaves off the bushes and leaving a trail so we could find our way out again apparently- so very dramatic! Haha

How are you spending bank holiday weekend?

12

Weekend Roundup

I really had such a lovely weekend these past few days. Between starting work and everyone being away on summer holidays it'd been a few weeks since I'd seen anyone so it was amazing to be able to spend a chilled out weekend with a few of my best friends!

We had some lovely weather here on Saturday morning so my cousin, Jenny and I got up bright and early and went for a long walk in the park followed by some lunch in Belfast. It was the first time I'd seen her since I got back from uni in June so it was great to spend some quality time and catch up. We went to this really quirky restaurant called Birdcage, though because it was quite busy I didn't manage to get any photos- I'll make sure I will next time!

Later on Saturday night Isabel and Libby who are two of my best friends from school came to stay at mine and we had a typical girly movie night with lots of chocolate and a cheeky bottle of Rosé. Then after a long lie-in the next day we braced the rain and headed back into the city for another lunch date. This time we went to a restaurant in the city centre called Made in Belfast which has a menu made up of all locally sourced produce. It can be a little pricey but it's completely worth it because the food is so good!

It was quite a special occasion for the three of us because since we've all moved away to different unis we really don't see as much of each other as we'd like to any more. Isabel (Izi) lives in London now and because of commitments with her job over there she can't come home very often. In fact, she's only back in Northern Ireland for two weeks this summer before heading back off again! So whenever we all get a chance to see each other it's literally the best thing ever. I really couldn't have asked for a better end to a week of placement!

Hope you all had a great weekend!

21