Northern Ireland Countryside--An Abbey, A Farmhouse, and The Game of Thrones

Our second, and last, day in Northern Ireland was spent in the countryside. We decided to head south since we went west the last time we were out this way. If you have watched, know about, or have any interest in Game of Thrones, you may know that much of the outdoor scenes were filmed around Belfast. There are probably two reasons for this. First, indoor studio scenes were filmed here in the building I showed you on my blog yesterday. Secondly, Northern Ireland has some beautiful natural and historical scenery. 

Our first stop was Inch Abbey which  was established almost 900 years ago in 1180. It is believed that this is the monastery where the monks wrote the story of St. Patrick running the snakes out of Ireland. It was taken out of service by King Henry VIII in the 1500's. It was an extrememly beautiful and peaceful location.

For anyone who is a GoT watcher the Abbey was used as Rob Stark's encampment. As it stated on the sign...it was where Catlyn Stark confronted Jamie Lanister as he was bound to a pole. 

We just knew that it was a gorgeous day in a peaceful and quiet set of old ruins.

It was also set right along a lake and within view of the Downpatrick Cathedral. 

We then set off for a National Park area call Castle Ward. It is a large park that was once owned by a local family, however it is now owned and cared for by the National Trust. It has a modern mansion that is being refurbished, many hiking and biking trails, a lake, a tea room, and a farm area known as Old Castle Ward. This is the area we visited. 

Old Castle ward was built in the late 1500's. It is an 850 acre walled home and farm area that was lived in by the Ward family. 

This was the entry into the gates of the home.

These panoramic pictures show the "home" or farm inside the walls. It consisted of several buildings. Some housed the family, servants, equipment, animals, and various other items and/or people.

The family's home or sleeping quarters were really the main tower. They slept on the top floor and there was a main large fireplace on the bottom that would heat the tower. 

 

For those who watch Game of Thrones, Old Castle Ward was the set used for Winterfell for the first season of the show. They spent 8 weeks building onto Castle Ward for the show and then the cast came for shooting for many months. 

We then spent the rest of the afternoon driving up Northern Ireland's Eastern Coast along the Irish Sea since the weather was full of sunshine.

This area had large herds of dairy cattle. In fact, there were more dairy cattle then there were sheep. 

Except for the fact that we were driving on the opposite side of the road we felt like we were back home!

Finally, it was time to come back to our city home in Belfast! There is beauty in the city as well as the country.