At the start of September we planned to take a camping trip around the North Coast for a few days but we thought it might be a good idea to do a trial run first. We decided to try one night at the campsite at Castle Ward as it isn't too far from home so at least if it was a complete disaster we could just pop home without too much bother! In the end it worked out just fine. The weather was lovely although it did get a little nippy at night so definitely need to bring a heater in the future.
All packed up and ready to go. We did need considerably more stuff having a baby with us but it did all fit, just about!
We bought George ear defenders as the Land Rover is pretty noisy when it's driving. He absolutely loves them and pretty much falls asleep as soon as they go on!
All parked and set up.
We went down on a Tuesday so the site was pretty empty. Castleward is really popular and I think you have to book ages in advance to get in at the weekend.
The campsite is surrounded by forrest which will be great for exploring when George is a bit bigger although he seemed pretty taken by the light fluttering through the tree canopy as it is!
A glimpse of Strangford Lough.
A pretty foxglove - all the ones in our garden are long gone by September.
A tunnel under one of the lanes on the estate.
I have been to Castleward so many times and I don't really remember seeing this tree tunnel before, it was pretty cool.
Inside the tree tunnel.
Temple water. There is a lovely walk all around the water.
The boats in Audley's Bay.
I thought this bit of wood looked a bit like the Lough Ness monster.
We were only there for one night but we packed a lot in, we walked into Strangford and got some ice creams on the first day then headed back for a picnic dinner. After we packed up we headed in to the Castleward estate and had a cup of tea and a scone then a lovely long walk finished off with a nice lunch, a perfect couple of days and just what we needed to get ready for a bigger camping trip.
