Strangford Castle - 4 Things to Know Before Visiting

Portaferry Castle is a 16th-century tower-house, built by the Savage family and prominently located on the slope overlooking Portaferry harbour within sight of Strangford and Audley's Castles across the water. It is a square building with a small projecting turret on the south corner. It is three storeys high plus attic and there is no vault. Most of the eastern corner is in ruins. This house is a State Care Historic Monument in the townland of Ballyphilip.

This gentle walk is through a mature wood of mixed broad leaved trees. Visitors will enjoy spectacular views across the Strangford Narrows, towards Audleys Castle and Castleward. Nugent’s Wood is home to Red Squirrels, badgers and has an impressive display of spring flowers such as bluebells, stitchwort and honey suckle.

Exploris is a public aquarium situated in Portaferry, Northern Ireland. The facility is located on the shores of the Marine Nature reserve of Strangford Lough, which is an important winter migration destination for many wading and sea birds. The lough is home to almost 75% of the marine species found in Northern Ireland, including common seals, basking sharks and brent geese. The aquarium is also a rescue centre for sick.

Audley's Castle lies in the grounds of the Castle Ward estate, north west of the village of Strangford, in County Down, in Northern Ireland. It is named after its late 16th-century owners, the Audleys, an Anglo-Norman family who held land in the area in the 13th century. It consists of a tower set within a yard which is enclosed by a thin wall, with a simple gate.

Castle Ward is a highly unusual house built in 1762-60 by an unknown architect for Bernard Ward, later 1st Viscount Bangor and his wife. It is open to the public and includes 332 hectares of landscaped gardens, a fortified tower house, Victorian laundry, theatre, restaurant, shop, saw mill and a working corn mill. It has a shore on Strangford Lough. From 1985 to 2010 it has also hosted Castleward Opera, an annual summer opera festival.

Cloghy Rocks is a wonderful location popular for wildlife watching. As the Strangford Lough tide ebbs, seals haul out to rest on this group of rocks. The nature reserve is a magnet for visitors during the summer months because it is a wonderful vantage point from which to watch one of the largest seal colonies in Ireland. Both Common and Grey seals may be easily viewed. Common seals favour the site for breeding, with pups being born in July.