The best traffic-free bike rides around Town Parks

Nendrum Monastery was a Christian monastery founded in the 5th century. The monastery finished somewhere between 974 and 1178, but the church survived until the 15th century. You can visit the ruins if you're riding past.

This tower-house, said to have been built in 1570 by an English soldier, Captain Browne, is badly ruined but is still of considerable interest. Rectangular and fairly small in ground plan, it was entered by a door in the north-west wall which has a draw bar socket and a murder-hole. To the left of the door was a stair to the next floor. There are two ground floor rooms, the larger with a semi-circular vault built on plank centring and the smaller with a pointed vault built on paired wicker mats. The smaller room, once thought to be a secure boat bay, may be just a storeroom (compare nearby Sketrick). There were two storeys above, but the upper parts are ruined. Part of the bawn wall survives to the south-west, cut into the hill.

WWT Castle Espie is home to the largest collection of ducks, geese and swans in Ireland. Wide open spaces, and wetlands full of the sights and sounds of nature. Surprised by just how much there is to see and do including a Cafe / Gallery, plenty of walks, and places to just sit and take it all in.

This is the best example in Northern Ireland of a pre Norman ecclesiastical enclosure with its buildings. Nendrum is associated with St Mochaoi who died at the end of the 5th century, and is linked with St Patrick in a much later source. Notices of Nendrum clergy, including three bishops, begin in the 7th century and the excavation of a sophisticated tide mill on the shore near the site has shown that the mill was active in the early 7th century, which underlines the early importance of Nendrum. References continue until a fire in 976, perhaps a Viking raid, when the head of the church (erenagh) was burned in his house. In the late 12th century a small Benedictine monastic cell was founded on the site, but by 1302–1306 this was the parish church, abandoned for Tullynakill on the mainland in the 15th century. H.C. Lawlor excavated the site from 1922 to 1924, when enclosure walls, church and round tower were restored. The glacial hill is crowned with three concentric walled enclosures, irregularly oval in plan. Little is known of the outer cashel, only partly in state care. In the middle cashel on the south-west side are circular platforms for huts, which excavation suggested were craft workshops, and a rectangular building known as the ‘schoolhouse’, also a workshop. In the inner cashel were the most important buildings, including the church with its graveyard and the base of a round tower north-west of the church. The west wall of the church was rebuilt in the 1920s, incorporating a reconstructed sundial at the south-west corner. Finds from the 1920s excavation, including the well-known bell of Nendrum, are in the Ulster Museum and Down Museum at Downpatrick. Underwater archaeological work in the 1990s showed that there is a stone jetty south-east of the enclosure, now inundated in the lough, and medieval pottery was found close by. ( source: department of communities )

You may just miss it on your ride, as its tucked away down a small lane, but really worth a stop. Has an early version of a burial cage on the left side of the Church, intended to ward of body snatchers ! Some beautiful old stone work. A peaceful spot for a well earned rest.

Love spending time here. There is a park bench to the far east corner, and to the left of that hosts one of the best views of the Lough. When tides out you can see traces of the old Salmon fisheries. Its so quiet, and there is a picnic area just to the side of the visitors centre. The site also boasts fragments of an early Sun Dial that have been placed by the entrance to the Church.

Picturesque rolling trail through Barley fields, and vistas of the beautiful Strangford Lough always present. Hosts great views of Scrabo Tower in the distance, and if you catch this trail at twilight on a clear summers eve, you will be rewarded with such magnificent colours. Strangford Lough is also a designated 'Dark Skies' area for you star gazers.

Reagh Island ( An tOileán Riabhach meaning “The Brindled Island” ) is one of the many islands in Strangford Lough. Along with some other islands, it provides shelter for Ringneill Bay and Reagh Bay. There is a car park and you can walk to the shore along a lovely woodland pass. get in for a dip or just take a well earned rest.