Resurfacing at Crawfordsburn Country Park
The car park at Seapark will be closed to vehicle access from Monday 29 to Wednesday 31 March. This is due to resurfacing works of the car park and Coastguard Avenue. Whilst there will be some disruption, access to local residents will continue. Thank you for your understanding and the Northern Ireland Environment Agency apologises for the inconvenience caused.
Resurfacing works at Redburn Country Park Park
To finish resurfacing works, the main car park at Redburn Country Park will be closed to vehicle access on Thursday 25 and Friday 26 March. The Northern Ireland Environment Agency thanks you for your understanding and apologises for the inconvenience caused.
COVID-19 - camping and touring online booking
All Forest Service operated campsites and caravan parks including ‘Touring in the trees’ sites are closed in line with COVID-19 regulations. Forest Service will review the opening of the camping and touring online booking system in mid to late April 2021.
COVID-19 update
Toilet facilities will be open from around 10.00 am to 5.00 pm daily at the following parks:
Forest parks
- Castlewellan Forest Park
- Drum Manor Forest Park
- Glenariff Forest Park
- Parkanaur Forest
- Portglenone Forest
- Tollymore Forest Park
Country parks
- Castle Archdale Country Park
- Crawfordsburn Country Park and Helens Bay (visitor centre 10.00 am to 4.00 pm)
- Ness Country Park
- Peatlands Park
- Quoile Countryside Centre
- Roe Valley Country Park
- Scrabo Country Park
Toilets are closed at:
- Duross bay toilets at Castle Archdale Country Park
The Woodland’s Café at Crawfordsburn Country Park is open every day for take away services from 10.00 am to 4.00 pm.
The Ritter Tea Rooms in Roe Valley Country Park is closed.
At times car parks may be closed temporarily to support social distancing if sites become too busy or crowded.
Make sure you follow Public Health Agency guidelines and maintain social distancing at all times. Plan your visits in line with ongoing restrictions.
Binevenagh Forest thinning programme
Forest Service is starting an extensive thinning programme in Binevenagh Forest. The work will involve the felling and removal of selected trees to improve crop quality and maintain forest cover. It will also result in better timber quality and will improve biodiversity by reducing the density of trees in the forest.
Harvesting operations are expected to start on the week beginning 12 October 2020. Diversions will be applied to the Ulster Way during the thinning programme with restrictions during the work. Forest Service asks that all users of the forest follow the signage.
Paper bank notes
All £5.00 and £10.00 paper notes were taken out of circulation on the 30 September 2019 because they were each replaced with polymer notes. For this reason, Forest Service is unable to accept paper notes after this date.
Note that banks in Northern Ireland will still accept all Northern Ireland paper notes from their own customers, which can either be deposited into their account or exchanged for polymer notes.
Forest recreation charges
On event days, some charges apply to particular forests. There are also charges for the use of additional facilities in some forests - these apply to vehicles, people and to some activities and organised events.
You can get details of concessions for charities and community groups, caravanning and camping at this link:
Report wildlife sightings online
In Northern Ireland, the Centre for Environmental Data and Recording (CEDaR) collates wildlife records for both native and non-native species.
You can record your sightings on its website either as a single record event or you can register with them and send details through a free online account.
Over 100 forests to explore
Northern Ireland has over 100 public forests you can visit. They’re great places for walking, exercising dogs, running, orienteering. In some you can organise events, go camping, caravanning, picnicking or horse riding. Find out more: