31 Jan Glenveagh National Park
Ten thousand hectares of wild scenery make up this park of glaciated valleys and open moorland around Lough Veagh. Parts of the park are wooded with native oak and birch or imported rhododendron and spruce. The approach via Dunlewy at the foot of Mount Errigal gives some of the most spectacular views. (Off the main road, an expedition to the Poisoned Glen is worth taking – it is so called because of a toxic variety of spurge which grows by the waterside.)
Beside Lough Veagh stands the estate of Glenveagh Castle, created during the mid-19th century by John George Adair, who built the romantic, Scottish-style castellated mansion in about 1870. He is remembered mostlt for the harsh eviction of all his tenants after the murder of one of his estate managers in 1861. Adair later emigrated to North America. His wife Cornelia left much more favourable impressions: returning to Glenveagh after her husband’s death, she created the 11 hectares of glorious gardens around the castle.
During the Civil War the castle was occupied by the IRA and the Free State Army, then restored by a benevolent American owner who later transferred the land to the Irish National Parks Service. The estate contains the largest herd of red deer in Ireland, believed to number about 600.
See it on your tour of Ireland with “Ireland Luxury Tours”………..