Bluebell Lane Glamping

The famed Ring of Gullion, the first ring dike in the world to be geologically mapped, sits atop famed Slieve Gullion, the highest peak in County Armagh. Clamber up here if you can: Sleive Gullion's two ancient burial cairns include the highest passage grave still surviving in Ireland, and from the peak you can see as far as Dublin Bay and Wicklow on a clear day. (If you care not for clambering, an eight-mile marked drive brings you to the cairns – and lake – on the surface.) The mountain's also a top spot for hiking and cycling, with trails ranging from teeny mile-long woodland paths to the 36-mile Ring of Gullion Way. If you're more of a canterer, a horse riding centre is a couple of minutes' stroll from Bluebell Lane in Mullaghbane, while anglers can cast off at the Ring of Gullion's biggest lake Camlough (10 minutes' drive), to land pike, perch, bream and roach. And if you're here with kids who say pah to all that, Slieve Gullion's Giant’s Lair and Adventure Playpark is within 15 minutes' drive. You're niftily placed for city shopping and sightseeing from here too: Newry is the closest city at 20 minutes' drive away, but it's well worth making the hour's drive to Belfast for the Ulster Museum, Crumlin Road Gaol, the botanic gardens and a look at Queen's University... before a pint or two in one of Belfast's famed pubs.