Cloughey Holiday Park

The beach at Cloughey, directly accessible from the park, is a beaut: wide expanse of sand, acres of sand dunes and the well-regarded 18-hole golf course courtesy of Kirkistown Castle Golf Club at the beach’s landward side, where there’s also a play area and tennis courts. A 9-hole golf course lies just to the south of Cloughey at Portaferry’s Ardminnan Golf Club, also with views of the Irish Sea that might make you miss your shot… Both Ballywalter and Millisle beaches, within seven and 12 miles of Cloughey Holiday Park, are dog-friendly all year round and are wildlife-laden with wintering birds and placid seals. Of the two, Ballywalter is the quieter and has plenty of rockpools to splash about in and the raised Lime Kilns area for eye-watering vistas of the coastline; Millisle has a gorgeous 150 metre stretch, a slipway and jetty, and access to the East Coast Canoe Trail, 70 miles’ worth of paddling along the east Antrim and Co Down coasts, Strangford Lough and into/across Belfast Lough. The Ards Peninsula and its surrounds are very suitable for curious historians: take time to see Kirkistown Castle, built in 1622 and open to the public daily in summer; Grey Abbey, a twelfth century priory at Greyabbey village; Scrabo Tower above Newtownards, another worthy place of climbing up to with the camera, and the National Trust house Mount Stewart with acres of gorgeous gardens. The Somme Heritage Centre is just to the north of Newtownards at Conlig. Castles and castle ruins are dotted all over Northern Ireland too: as well as Kirkistown, look up in Co Down for Strangford Castle and Portaferry Castle, facing each other across Strangford Lough; Dundrum Castle with views to the Mourne mountains, and the award-winning gardens at Bangor Castle in the grounds of a nineteenth century country house. More modernly, bikers and car enthusiasts in the area can zip to Kirkistown Motor Circuit for speed-based events, or hang around Scrabo Tower after the photoworthy climb for woodland walks around Scrabo Country Park and another teeing off time at Scrabo Golf Club. Rock enthusiasts (music not geology) can also have an envious time browsing at the hand-crafted goods of Avalon Guitars in Newtownards, where Bruce Springsteen, Van Morrison and Sinead O’Connor have all picked up pieces. Towns and villages are all along the coast for other sorts of shopping, eats and drinks: Newtownards is the biggest Ards Peninsula town, but you’ll also find fresh local produce, purty pubs and restaurants at centres like Portaferry, Donaghadee and Portavogie. The seaside town of Bangor, just outside the peninsula, is a popular family tourist spot in summer and has a lively pub music scene for grownups. Just over 20 miles from Cloughey is Northern Ireland’s capital Belfast: get here early for a crammed day trip crammed to see the spanking new Titanic Centre, St George's Market, tours of City Hall, the Ulster Museum and Botanic Gardens, and an essential brunchtime Ulster fry at one of the many reasonably priced city centre cafés.