Tollymore Forest Park is a 630-hectare forest located at the foot of the Mourne Mountains in Northern Ireland. It was once the privately-owned Roden Estate but was taken over by the Forest Service in 1941, and later in 1955 it was opened to the public. It still is a public park and open all year around from 10am to sunset. It’s a 5-10 minute drive from the picturesque seaside town of Newcastle in Co Down and is famous for having some of the Game of Thrones filming locations. In addition to lots of outdoor activities to chose from there are lots of superb photographic opportunities. But it is a long way away – about 450km from our Killarney base (that’s a 5-5 1/2 hour drive) but from the photos we’ve seen from Conor it certainly looks worth the journey.

From my research the Forest Park is full of many eccentricities, including the Barbican Gate which is a grand entrance lined with huge Himalayan cedars. The trails map below can lead you on all sorts of adventures that will test your photographic skills. The winding and rapidly flowing Shimna River, crossable by stone bridges, takes you passed exotic trees and wonderful follies. And for the nature lover, you might even spot a kingfisher or an otter. It looks like a most amazing place. It is definitely on my “Places to Visit” List an I can’t wait to see the rest of Conor’s photographs … if we ask nicely he might do a presentation one meeting, PLEASE!!!!

Tollymore Park, Bryansford Road, Newcastle, County Down, BT33 0PR. You can read more on the following websites:

https://discovernorthernireland.com/things-to-do/tollymore-forest-park-p675461

https://maps.app.goo.gl/ftKpweqkQsuQnaEP8

https://www.ireland.com/en-no/destinations/regions/tollymore-forest-park/

https://www.irishroadtrip.ie/tollymore-forest-park/

Next Club meeting is scheduled for Thursday 21st November at 7.30pm and Terry will be giving us a talk and presentation about his trip to France. It’s also the closing date for the Curves competition so please send in your entries to Ade ant entries@killarneycameraclub.ie before midnight on the 21st.

I’ll see those of you heading to Dingle this coming Saturday 16th November with George from Dingle Darkroom (we do still have 2 slots left if anyone else want to come along). Marie will be sending a reminder of the details out by email. If you want to put your name down for this please send Marie, our Club Secretary an email or contact me on the events@killarneycameraclub.ie.

Our next outing will be led by Terry to Rossbeigh on Saturday 23rd November. Arrangements are still be worked out but as soon as I have them, I’ll let you know.

Just to also let you know, next year our annual exhibition will be in Killarney House and Gardens for 2 months so to celebrate this, our theme will be Killarney National Park so bear this in mind when you are out and about taking your images. I’ll see you next time and if you have any photos from outings that you want to add to these updates and reports please do send them to me, cheers for now!

Please note all our outings are for members only. If you’d like to join our club please contact our club secretary on secretary@killarneycameraclub.ie