Tollymore Forest Park sits at the foot of the Mourne Mountains on the edge of Newcastle, County Down, where the Shimna River cuts a shallow, clear course under a series of stone bridges. Most people who've never been to Northern Ireland still recognise it on sight, because this is the Haunted Forest from Game of Thrones, the woodland where the first scene of the entire series was shot and where the Stark children find the direwolf pups. It's also, less famously, Northern Ireland's first forest park, which means it comes with proper trails, a car park, and a cafe rather than just a muddy layby and a signpost.

Why Tollymore Forest Park matters

Tollymore's importance has nothing to do with television, at least not originally. It's generally credited as the first forest park opened to the public in Northern Ireland, a status it earned in the 1950s on land that had belonged to the Earls of Roden since the 1700s. The Roden family spent much of the 18th and 19th centuries landscaping the estate and planting exotic conifers alongside native species, which is why you'll find sequoias and monkey puzzle trees standing next to ash and beech that look like they've always been there. That mix of ornamental planting and genuine wild woodland gives Tollymore an atmosphere that's slightly off from a typical native forest, somewhere between a planned garden and something older and wilder.

That atmosphere is exactly what drew Game of Thrones location scouts here. The show's cold open, the very first scene of Season 1, Episode 1, was filmed in Tollymore, with the Night's Watch riding out before the encounter with the White Walkers beyond the Wall. Later in the same episode, Bran, Jon Snow, and the rest of the Stark children find the litter of direwolf pups in the snow near Winterfell, a scene also shot here. Both sequences lean on the park's river gorge and its stands of mossy beech, and both are the reason fans now show up clutching screenshots, trying to match tree to frame.

Quick facts

• Location: Bryansford Road, Newcastle, County Down, BT33 0PR
• Setting: foothills of the Mourne Mountains, along the Shimna River
• Game of Thrones connection: the Haunted Forest beyond the Wall, and the scene where the direwolf pups are found
• Facilities: car park, cafe, waymarked walking trails, arboretum
• Distance from Newcastle town centre: roughly a 10 to 15 minute drive, or a longer walk if you don't mind the road verge

Getting there

Most visitors arrive by car. Tollymore is reached via Bryansford Road just outside Newcastle, and public transport options that drop you at the gates are limited, so unless you're staying in Newcastle itself and fancy the walk, driving or getting a taxi is the practical choice. From Belfast, the drive takes around an hour depending on traffic, usually via the A24 and then the A2 coast road. It's a scenic run once you clear Downpatrick, with the Mournes rising ahead of you for the last stretch before Newcastle. The park has its own car park near the entrance, which also serves as the starting point for the cafe and most of the marked trails, so you don't need to plan a separate approach for different parts of the park.

The layout and experience

Tollymore doesn't throw everything at you at once. The entrance gates are worth slowing down for on their own, ornate stone structures built by the Roden estate in a loosely gothic style, including a barn gate and a barbican gate that feel more like the approach to a small castle than a car park entrance. Once you're through, paths fan out along the Shimna River, crossing it again and again over narrow stone bridges, some humpbacked, some flat and green with moss, all of them the kind of thing that photographs well even on a grey day, which in this part of County Down is often.

The walking itself is easy by Mourne standards. Most of the paths are flat and follow the riverside, with only a few short climbs if you want higher ground. Trails are signposted with coloured waymarkers, so you can pick a loop to match however much time you've got, from a 30-minute wander near the entrance to a longer circuit that takes in the arboretum and the upper paths. The sections used for the Haunted Forest scenes sit in mature woodland where the canopy is dense enough to cut most of the daylight even around midday, and once you're standing under it, it's obvious why the location scouts picked this spot over somewhere more open. The park doesn't mark film locations with signage, so if finding the exact spots matters to you, going with a local guide or a themed Game of Thrones tour makes it far easier than trying to match screenshots to trees on your own.

Main highlights

• The Shimna River gorge and its stone bridges, the visual backbone of most Game of Thrones photography taken here
• The arboretum, home to some of the oldest and tallest conifers in Ireland
• The old ice house, a quiet reminder of the estate's 18th and 19th century working life
• Views up toward Slieve Binnian and the wider Mourne range from the park's higher paths
• The entrance gates and gate lodges, built in an ornamental gothic style by the Roden estate

History and background

Before it was a forest park, Tollymore was the demesne of the Earls of Roden, who began landscaping the grounds and planting ornamental and exotic trees in the 1700s. A lot of what makes the park visually distinct now, the avenues of mature conifers, the follies dotted through the woodland, the stone bridges over the Shimna, dates from that period of estate design rather than from anything that grew here naturally. The land eventually passed into public ownership in the 20th century and opened as Northern Ireland's first forest park, which gave it a head start on trail-building and visitor facilities compared with many of the other woodlands later used for Game of Thrones filming nearby. That early investment is part of why Tollymore still feels more developed and easier to navigate than some of the other filming locations scattered around County Down and Antrim.

Best time to visit

Autumn tends to suit Tollymore best, when the beech and oak turn and the light through the canopy goes gold rather than flat green. The river is usually lower and clearer too, which helps if you're trying to photograph the bridges. Spring works well if you want to catch the arboretum's specimen trees before the canopy fully closes over, and winter has its own appeal for anyone chasing that Haunted Forest mood, since bare branches and low mist make the woodland look closer to what appeared on screen. Summer is the busiest season and the car park can fill up on fine weekends, so arriving early in the day gives you a better shot at quiet trails.

Combining with nearby attractions

Tollymore sits close enough to Newcastle that you can easily pair a visit with a walk along the town's promenade or a trip up Slieve Donard if you're after a proper mountain day. The Mourne Mountains more broadly offer walking routes of every difficulty within a short drive, and several other Game of Thrones filming locations in County Down and beyond are reachable within an hour or two, which makes Tollymore a natural stop on a wider location-hunting day rather than a destination you'd drive out to on its own.

Practical tips

• Wear proper footwear. Even the flatter riverside paths get muddy and the stone bridges can be slick after rain.
• Bring a map or download trail details beforehand, since phone signal can be patchy deeper into the park.
• If you're specifically chasing Game of Thrones locations, book a guided tour rather than relying on online screenshots, as the park itself has no film-location signage.
• The cafe near the car park is a sensible stop before or after a longer loop, especially outside peak summer weekends when it's quieter.
• Allow at least two to three hours if you want to see the arboretum and the river gorge rather than just the paths closest to the entrance.

FAQ

Is Tollymore Forest Park free to enter?
Specific admission arrangements can change, so it's worth checking current details before you go rather than assuming either way.

Can you see the exact Game of Thrones filming spots?
Yes, though the park doesn't signpost them. A local guide or themed tour is the most reliable way to find the precise locations used for the Haunted Forest and direwolf pup scenes.

How long does it take to walk around Tollymore?
That depends on the route. Shorter loops near the entrance take well under an hour, while a fuller circuit through the arboretum and upper trails can take half a day.

Is Tollymore suitable for families or less experienced walkers?
Largely yes. Most of the main paths are flat and well maintained, running along the Shimna River, with only a few short climbs if you venture toward the higher ground.

Whatever draws you to Tollymore Forest Park, the Game of Thrones history or the older story of the Roden estate and its arboretum, it rewards a slow visit. Give yourself time to actually walk the riverside paths rather than rushing to one photo spot, and Tollymore starts to feel less like a filming location and more like what it's been for well over a century, a genuinely well-planted, well-kept stretch of woodland at the foot of the Mournes.