Drum Manor Forest Park

Ian Wilton-Jones

08/21/2024

So. We decided on a rainy day, to do the long course, about 3.8k round the park, but with a few differences. Their vaguely helpful map had 2, yes two black routes. They made it appear like they were displayed differently but my aged eyes definitely read them as the same colouring and marking system!! There were only 3 routes but only 2 colours, black and red. So we did the outer black but also deliberately picked up the red route at the end of our route. The outer black certainly was not a closed loop and didn't start or finish at the car park. So I chose to walk the red route, to the right (west) until we picked up our black route. Just out of the car park, there was a red arrow pointing to the left (east), but I wanted to go west to pick up the black route. Only when I reached the black route did I realise I hadn't selected the correct direction to handle the black waymarkers!!!! Bit I'm a skilled map worker and I had a mobile photo of their route which became a real challenge to follow - and as time went on, I eventually got the hang of not reading exactly what they showed. I was off route early on but eventually I kept myself convinced of the route. That was until I reached the join of the red route by the lakes, where their map had me arriving on one side of the small lake whereas I met a red route joining me from a direction which didn't exist in their map (from the map board, in the car park, that day! ). Anyway, once I picked up the red route all was fine and easy to follow without any further incident. I would say, some of the car parking money would be better spent on purchasing a few dozen marker posts and laying it out better so that the marker posts assist you to go in either direction. And three colours not two!!! And they all visibly start and finish right by the car park. Having given all that negativity, I would say it was a lovely route, generally wooded, and including 2 or 3 nice ponds or small lakes. The walk was not level but the surface was good, even when wet. It undulated but with a slope that I, on two walking poles with very poor legs, was able to manage with my arm strengths. There were a few nice grassy areas near the car park. There were also a couple of walled gardens which certainly didn't really do much for me but it may have been our dreadful summer spoiling the displays created by hard working gardeners. I enjoyed our just over an hour's walk, tremendously!

Bungle B

09/22/2024

Great campsite with 30 plus camping pitches with power and shower , toilet, and grey water waste for £26 a night. Very quiet location with access to great forest walks and also a pet friendly site.

G M

06/04/2024

Lovely place to spend a couple of hours in nature,but for some reason the grounds are not maintained as well as for instance in Castlewellan or Tullymore forest park.Some trails are hard to find because the markings fell off,some sections completely closed off by forest service! Bit of a disappointment but still worth a visit!

Vytaute McBride

06/03/2024

Lovely caravan site, great walking trails, excellent for kids with lots of outdoor activities, nice play park close by. Nice and quiet.

Helen Stewart

05/21/2024

Lovely place to camp with a beautiful forest and a lake to walk around. An option to book a tent pitch without electricity would have been nice as we don't use it when in a tent