200 Learmount Rd, Londonderry BT47 4BB, UK

Take the B74 Claudy to Feeny road for approximately three miles. Turn right onto the Clagan or Altinure Road heading for the village of Park. The forest is on the Learmount Road on the outskirts of Park.

The car park is at the community centre in Park along the Learmount Road.

Learmount Forest covers 118 hectares of the foothills at the northern face of the Sperrin Mountains. Bought by the Forest Service at the end of the Second World War, it has over 15 different tree species planted, with some over 100 years old. This is due to the planting of selected trees by Henry Barre de la Poer Beresford, a Plantation landlord from Staffordshire. Roads and paths offer two and a half miles of trails that rise 656 feet from the banks of the River Faughan to the slopes of Meeny Hill.

The imposing castle was built in 1830 as an extension of an older building erected by a Captain Montgomery around 1710. The castle was used by Ashleigh House Girls' School (Belfast) during the war, and then by the Youth Hostel Association until it was bought by the present owner. The Youth Hostel was the base for many happy weekends of the North West Orienteering Club in bygone days.

Maps