Festival Tours
'A Forenoon Aroon the Ards' Coach Tour
Saturday 17th September, 10.00am- 3.00pm£14.00/£16.00 Concession (including light lunch)
This Ulster-Scots tour will take you across the Ards tracing the history of the 1606 Hamilton/Montgomery settlement as you follow in the footsteps of Hugh Montgomery. You will also see some of the sites of the 1798 rebellion. Your journey will begin in Newtownards, the capital of the Montgomery’s settlement and his eventual burial place. You will then move to Greyabbey, where you will visit Rosemount Estate, the home of Montgomery’s descendents, and see the Abbey he restored. After a stop for a light lunch you will continue onwards to Donaghadee, where Montgomery first arrived and established the port. The tour will finish with a trip to Movilla Abbey, one of the few buildings Montgomery and his tenants would have passed on their way to Newtownards. The Abbey is also the burial place of several fighters from the 1798 rebellion. Along your journey you will hear stories of the landscapes, coastlines and the people who began to arrive from Scotland over 400 years ago and helped to shape the history and heritage of Northern Ireland.
*All coach tours depart from car park behind Ards Borough Council offices, Frederick Street, Newtownards.
'Literary Strangford' Coach Tour
Sunday 18th September, 11.00am- 4.00pm£14.00/£12.00 Concession (including light refreshments)
Strangford Lough and its surrounding shores, townlands and villages have provided both the inspiration and setting for writers, many of whom have chosen to live in the area, as well as write about it. This tour celebrates the writing and writers of Strangford Lough. Leaving Newtownards the tour will head south to Strangford, making a full circle of the Strangford coastline with a crossing on the Ferry, and a stop for light lunch along the route. As well as bringing the Lough to life through the poetry and prose of such writers as Joseph Tomelty, Michael McLaverty, Sam Hanna Bell, Lynn C Doyle and a host of others both historic and contemporary, it will paint a rich tapestry of the history and culture of the Strangford area which has been settled for almost 9,000 years.
The 'Literary Strangford' Coach Tour is organised for Festival of the Peninsula by the Strangford Lough & Lecale Partnership.
*All coach tours depart from car park behind Ards Borough Council offices, Frederick Street, Newtownards.
Strangford Lough Musical Cruise
Portaferry. Sunday 18th September,2.00pm- 4.00pm £11.00/£9.00 Concession
Take a well-earned Sunday of relaxation as you set sail across the beautiful Strangford Lough to the rousing sounds of traditional Irish music.
Tour departs from Portaferry Slipway.
