A 200-acre riverside woodland on the edge of Ballina, and one of Europe's largest urban forests — free to wander, with a fairy trail for children and red squirrels in the canopy.
A community-built trail of tiny, brightly painted fairy houses tucked into tree roots and branches. Created by the Ballina Men's Shed with St Muredach's College, it is the highlight for younger visitors — look quietly and don't disturb the residents.
An easy 3.8 km loop on forest paths, taking about an hour, waymarked with white markers and starting at The Moorings. It passes through the old Belleek estate, including a hermitage site and an icehouse.
The woods shelter foxes, hares, pine martens, herons and a protected red squirrel population, reintroduced here in 2007. At the duck pond, feed the ducks healthy snacks such as grapes, oats or birdseed — never bread.
A World War I-era concrete vessel lies derelict on a sandbank between Ballina Quay and Belleek Woods, towed here in 1937 and refloated to its current spot in 1974. It is an easy detour from the riverbank paths.
In season the paths are lined with bluebells, irises, primroses, foxgloves, wild garlic and cuckoo pint beneath oaks, beech and other 19th-century plantings.
The main avenue, known as the Heritage Trail, leads past the Ice House, the Mausoleum, a lime kiln, the old famine wall and the stone quay, with Belleek Castle appearing through the trees.
Belleek Woods is the start of this 14 km mixed-terrain cycle route to Killala. Stage 1 runs 2.5 km off-road through the woods with the River Moy on your right; walking it takes up to an hour.
Breakfast, brunch and lunch in Belleek Castle's converted 19th-century coach house, right inside the woods. Open Saturdays and Sundays, 8:30am to 5pm; breakfast 8:30-11:30am, lunch 12:00-5pm, no booking needed.
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