Best Things Across The UK

Gosford Castle: Ulster's Largest Listed Building — and Game of Thrones' Riverrun When Robin Fedden of the National Trust surveyed Gosford Castle in 1952, he described it as "one of the most original buildings of its time" and noted that it had...

Enniskillen Castle: The Maguire Clan's Lough Erne Fortress, Home to Two Museums Hugh Maguire built his castle at Enniskillen around 1428. His nickname — 'the Hospitable' — suggests a lord who understood the politics of generosity as well as the politics...

Killyleagh Castle: Ireland's Oldest Inhabited Castle, Above Strangford Lough Sir Hans Sloane was born in Killyleagh in 1660. The physician, naturalist and collector who grew up in this County Down village on the shore of Strangford Lough went on to assemble a...

Castle Ward: The House That Couldn't Agree on a Style — and Became Winterfell Bernard Ward, 1st Viscount Bangor, and his wife Lady Ann Bligh could not agree on what kind of house they wanted to build at their County Down estate in the 1760s. He wanted classical...

Dundrum Castle: Where John de Courcy's Norman Ulster Meets the Mourne Mountains In 1177, the same year that John de Courcy built Carrickfergus Castle on Belfast Lough, he also established a fortress on a rocky hill above Dundrum Bay in County Down. The two...

Glenarm Castle: Six Centuries of the McDonnell Earls, Among the Glens of Antrim In the 1920s, a fire broke out at Glenarm Castle — allegedly started in an attempt to keep the 11th Earl of Antrim's featherless parrot warm. The castle had to be substantially...