Another day outside Belfast finds me exploring Strangford Lough, which is a large sea lough that's south east of the city. I travelled by bus down the Ards peninsula to Portaferry from where a car ferry crosses the mouth of the lough to Strangford itself. The lough has a strong tidal race because the mouth is narrow with large amounts of water squeezing through.
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| Strangford Lough Ferry |
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| Strangford Harbour |
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| Strangford Lough |
What I came here to see was Castle Ward, an easy walk along the shoreline from Strangford. This was the home of the Wards - aka Lord and Lady Bangor. It was an arranged marriage of convenience (she had lots of money) and they didn't really get on. Consequently when they started to build their new house they couldn't decide on a style. He wanted restrained Palladian, she wanted over the top Gothic. The result is a house with two facades, one Palladian, one Gothic and a house split right down the middle, his half in his style, hers in hers. Needless to say the marriage didn't last!
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| Lord Bangor's Palladian Frontage |
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| Lady Bangor's in Gothic |
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| Lady Bangor got the rooms with a view |
One thing I really like about this time of the year is that it is Fungi season and Castle Ward has some particularly fine examples.
I must point out at this point though, that it is, look DON'T touch. I was once told, whilst at another National Trust property that what I was looking at with awe was deadly!!
Lastly - and I need some help with this as I have never seen an episode - Castle Ward was used for filming Game of Thrones - you may recognise this pic as "Winterfell".
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