Overview
Ballyquintin Farm is a working National Trust farm – 47 hectares (116 acres) of grassland, rocky shore and cobble beach at the very tip of the Ards Peninsula, where Strangford Lough empties into the Irish Sea. The Trust still farms it the traditional way, mixed and low-intensity, which is part of why the grassland is as rich as it is. Part of the site is also a National Nature Reserve managed by the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs.
If you only have half an hour, do this: from the car park, take the paved path out to Ballyquintin Point. It’s flat, suitable for wheelchairs and pushchairs, and it gives you the raised beach and the water views without a single stile. Everything else is a bonus.
The raised beach
The cobble and shingle ridge at Ballyquintin Point is the reason to come. It’s a raised beach – a bank of stones piled up when sea levels were higher at the end of the last ice age and left stranded as the land rose – and it’s unique along the Ulster coast. Little grows on the bare cobbles except a patchwork of lichens, prized by ecologists because they take decades to establish, and blackthorn so battered by the wind it survives barely 12 inches high.
The walk
Beyond the paved section, this is a proper coastal ramble. Guides quote anything from under a mile to around three miles depending on which loops and detours you take, so it flexes to the legs you’ve brought.
From the car park, follow the signs toward Port Kelly, through a stile on the left and across the field to the sandy shore. Double back and pick up the route to Bar Hall Bay, down a grassy lane, through two more stiles and out onto the rocks. Turn right along the coast, then right again at the quiet rural road; about 200 metres on, a gate on the left starts the short climb up Bar Hall Hill. From the top you look clear across the Strangford Narrows to Killard Point, and on a genuinely clear day to the Isle of Man. Drop back to the road and follow the access lane to the car park.
A concrete lookout hut from the Second World War still stands on Bar Hall Hill – a stubby relic of the years the narrows were watched. It makes a handy shorter walk: head straight from the car park through the gate to the hut, take in the lower reserve, then wander down to the grassland at ground level.
One honest word of warning: it’s exposed. There’s no shelter from the wind coming off the sea, the stiles get slick in the wet, and the loop is grass, road and rough shore once you leave the paved path. Bring windproof layers even in summer and sturdy footwear the rest of the year.
Flora and wildlife
The coastal grassland is the botanical draw, thin soils and salt wind favouring plants that struggle elsewhere. Orchids bloom in May and June; the dwarf, wind-moulded Burnet rose flowers from May to July and sets purple hips after. Skylarks, linnets, stonechats and whitethroats work the grassland, while peregrine falcons, buzzards and kestrels quarter the headland and Brent geese winter on the shore. In some years migrant Red Admiral butterflies turn up in numbers, having crossed the Irish Sea to get here.
The best of it is at Bar Hall Bay, where common seals haul out on the rocks to bask – early morning or late afternoon gives you the best odds of seeing them undisturbed. Irish hares are a regular sight across the fields.
Practical information
- Distance: roughly 0.8 miles to around 3 miles depending on the loops taken
- Terrain: off-road paths, a quiet rural road, stiles, and short steep sections
- Difficulty: easy to moderate; sturdy footwear recommended
- Admission: free
- Parking: the main visitor car park is at Port Kelly, about 200 metres from the farm; disabled parking is at the farm itself
- Accessibility: the paved path from the car park to Ballyquintin Point is suitable for wheelchairs and pushchairs, but only as far as the viewpoint; the wider loop has stiles and uneven ground
- Dogs: welcome, but must be kept on a lead at all times – livestock graze here and ground-nesting birds are easily disturbed
- Maps: OS Sheet 21, grid reference J623465
- Site manager: the Quoile Countryside Centre, tel 028 4461 5520
- Getting there: from Portaferry, head south on the coastal road; after about 5 km, follow the National Trust signs to the right for Ballyquintin Farm
For the flowers, come in late May or June, when the orchids and Burnet roses are out and the grassland is at its best.