A flat, easy lakeside forest loop on the shore of Lough Gill, just minutes from Sligo town, with island views, 250-year-old trees and a Yeats Trail art seat facing the water.
The trail looks out over Wolf and Bernard's Islands close by, with Church, Goat and Cottage Islands and Dooney Rock across the water. Information panels along the way explain the mature trees, many of them non-native and planted roughly 250 years ago.
There are plenty of places to stop for a picnic, and a quiet picnic area with benches sits beside Half Moon Bay where ducks and swans gather. Bring a flask and linger over the lakeside view.
Hazelwood is one of 14 stops on the Yeats Trail, with an art installation and seating overlooking the water at Half Moon Bay. On the newer stretch behind the house you pass an old boathouse and the base of a windmill that once drew water from the lake for the mansion.
A flat, easy, green-waymarked loop starts and ends at the Hazelwood car park and follows the Lough Gill shore before returning inland. Coillte describes it as a 3km loop with two shorter alternatives; it has since been extended to a full 4.2km. Multi-access path and forest track make it suitable for all ages, and it is buggy-friendly and wheelchair-accessible in sections.
The walk passes through the old Hazelwood Demesne, seat of the Wynne family for 300 years. The 1724 Palladian house was designed by Richard Cassells, also responsible for Leinster House, and is now a whiskey distillery; it is not open to the public.
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