Bluebell hunting in Castle Ward

On Bank Holiday Monday we took the camper van down to Castle Ward for a picnic and a spot of bluebell hunting.  It was a lovely sunny day but a bit breezy but we found a nice spot by a tree that was a bit sheltered and had a rather nice view of the lough in one direction...

And a view of the gothic side of the house in the other direction.

After a picnic of crusty bread, cheese and ham, George and his dad played a spot of football and we packed up the picnic things then headed off looking for some bluebells.

They weren't hard to find!  We used to come to Castle Ward when I was little and I always remember the seas of blue along the paths.  

Portaferry was looking lovely in the sunshine.

I really liked this little window, it turns out that it was where a person would stand to weigh things that were on the weighbridge.  They would have had the window open and inside there were a set of scales so they could determine the weight of whatever was on the weighbridge outside.

Having a look at the ducks.

And the goats.

Just before this shot a gust of wind blew George's sun hat into the duck pond.  Dee had to rescue it with a branch, and was cheered on by some other visitors!

A view of Audley's Castle from the end of Temple Water.  I love how they must have planned the view so the Castle was framed in the middle!

The wild garlic was amazing, it looks so pretty and smelled fantastic.  In fact after we got home we decided we really wanted some for our garden so I had a look on eBay and found a Scottish lady selling some from her garden so I just had to buy it, I've planted it at the back of our house so hopefully next spring we will have scenes like this in our garden!

More bluebells.

There were some gorgeous patches of daisies too.  I wish we had more daisies in our grass but we are just overrun with dandelions instead. :-(

There were some elegant swans swimming about on the water.

I liked these fancy gates.

When we were walking back to the camper van George fell asleep so we stopped on a bench in front of the house for a cup of tea and a bun.  The camper certainly stood out a bit amongst the cars!

Delamont

A couple of Sundays ago we took our first day trip of the year in the camper van, down to Delamont near Killyleagh for a bit of a walk before lunch.  It was a bit cloudy and windy but when the sun did come out of hiding it was actually pretty warm.  I hadn't been to Delamont in years.  It's run by Down Council and it costs £4 per car to get in.  We just had a bit of a walk around but there is a little railway for kids and there was a place selling coffee which is always nice on a Sunday morning!

Nice view of the Mournes.

This is the Millenium stone, it was put up by lots of scouts in 1999.

Getting wrapped up... it was pretty breezy at the top of this hill.

It was the start of the spring series yacht races that day, here they all are milling around before the start of the race.

Lovely daffodils.

As you go around Delamont there are bits of green gym equipment to use.  You can get a season ticket for £25 so you can go as many times as you like, definitely much cheaper than a regular gym, but maybe a bit miserable if it's raining!

There were lots of freshly ploughed fields, I wonder what they're going to plant here?  Will have to go back later in the summer to find out I suppose!.

The walk around takes you down close to the shore of Strangford Lough and there are a few pebbly beaches you can get out on to.

There were lots of cute lambs about but as soon as I got the camera out they made a run for it!

Finally we spotted this old walled garden, it's all over grown which is a pity.  There is even an old glass house hidden in there.  It would be great if they could get someone to take this on and run it to grow veggies to sell or use in a local cafe or something.

Anyway, Delamont is well worth a visit, I'm very tempted to invest in a season ticket as I think we might become regular visitors!

Summer holiday...

It seems like pretty much everyone in our house has been sick for all of 2015 so far, but last night things started to look up, the sniffles and coughing subsided a bit and there were even a few smiles to be seen. Plus on the weather front there was definitely a glimmer of sunshine and blue skies so I couldn't help but start dreaming of holidays and camping! It's still a bit cold for any overnights in the camper just yet but it's definitely not to early to start dreaming and planning!

Here are some pictures from our summer holiday last year to get us all in the mood!

We took the campervan up the north coast, starting in portrush for the airshow. It's on every September and well worth a visit - airwavesportrush.co.uk

The views from the walk down from the campsite into town are pretty nice.

The harbour at portrush.

Saw this lovely car parked and couldn't resist taking a pic!

Some planes...

Having some refreshments!

I love the red arrows and can't wait to see them every year. They were excellent as always!

The next day after the airshow we headed towards our next campsite which was in Bushmills and stopped off to have a look round Dunluce castle on the way.

Although we were only travelling a few miles each day we always made sure to stop for tea along the way.

We also visited Ballintoy harbour which looked lovely in the sunshine. It's very popular with Game of Thrones fans as it is the setting for the Iron Islands in the show. There is a lovely cafe here too.

The camper parked up in Ballintoy.

We then took a trip over the Carrick a Rede rope bridge which is managed by the National Trust. It was much lest rickety than I remember! 

Although it was September, the weather was amazing and the sea looked positively tropical.

All cosy in the camper.

There were many spectacular views from our various tea stops.

The next camp site we stopped at was in Cushendall and the spaces were pretty much right beside the sea, which was excellent!  This is the view during the day.

And this is the amazing scene at night, the moon was very impressive indeed.

Finally we stopped in Carrickfergus, where we had a tasty picnic lunch and had a look round the famous castle.

And of course finished off with the obligatory cup of tea and a French fancy.

All in all we were only a way for a few days but we packed so much in it felt like ages! The north coast is beautiful and there really is so much to see and do although we were very lucky with the weather.

Now to start planning some trips for 2015!