Overview
Oak Park’s four kilometres of woodland walks are flat, firm and colour-coded, which makes it one of the easier forest parks in the southeast to do with a buggy, a wheelchair or a reluctant walker. It sits three kilometres north of Carlow town, it is free, and it is open every day in daylight hours. The forest park is run by the Carlow Tourist Office, while the wider estate around it belongs to Teagasc, the state agriculture body, which farms it as a national tillage and bio-energy research centre. If you have an hour, the Lake Path is the one to do.
The estate behind the woods
The land was bought in 1775 by the Carlow MP Henry Bruen, who acquired what was then called Painestown. The Bruens held it for the best part of two centuries, and in that time the estate’s oak went into the great framed roof of Carlow Cathedral. In 1832 Bruen had the architects William Vitruvius Morrison and his father Richard remodel the Georgian house into something grander, with a five-bay central block and a portico on four Ionic columns.
Then, on 22 February 1902, a fire gutted most of it and left only the north wing standing. That surviving wing was rebuilt under the architect William Mansfield Mitchell. The Bruens sold up in the 1950s, the state took the estate on around 1960, and the woodland was kept for public walking. In 2013 the forest park won the Royal Dublin Society’s Irish Forestry Award. The granite Ionic triumphal arch that William Vitruvius Morrison designed still marks the entrance, and interpretive panels around the grounds fill in the Bruen story.
The trails
Four colour-coded loops make up just over four kilometres between them, all on firm, anti-slip surfacing with gentle gradients and clear markers at the junctions:
- Butlers Wood Loop (700 m): a short, shaded circuit under mature beech and oak.
- Lake Path (800 m): the pick of the four, following the water’s edge with steady birdlife on the lake.
- Fox Covert Track (1,100 m): through Scots pine, silver fir and larch, with bat roosts to watch for at dusk.
- Sally Island Trail (1,100 m): out to a small island that shelters game birds like pheasant.
Link Fox Covert and Sally Island if you want a longer walk; take the Lake Path on its own if you only have twenty minutes.
Wildlife
The mix of broadleaf and conifer gives the park a proper turn of seasons, from autumn golds to the evergreen frame of winter. The lakes and wetland draw swans, ducks and other waterfowl through the year, and the bird hides are placed to let you watch without putting them up. Oak Park is a recognised bat sanctuary too; the mature trees and old hedgerows suit several species, and the Fox Covert Track is the place to stand at dusk.
Family and access
Accessibility is the estate’s strong suit. The lakeside playground is designed for children of all mobility levels, with an outdoor fitness zone for adults next to it. Around the park you will find:
- Wheelchair-accessible toilets
- Picnic tables with level access
- Firm, anti-slip trail surfaces with clear colour coding
- A large free car park close to the main entrance
Strollers, wheelchairs and mobility scooters can manage most of the estate without meeting a steep gradient or a broken surface.
Practical information
- Admission: free.
- Opening hours: open daily, year round, during daylight hours.
- Parking: free car park near the arch. It fills on summer weekends, so come before midday for a spot near the trailheads. To find it, take exit 4 off the M9, follow signs for Carlow, turn first right after Toughers Restaurant and left at the next junction.
- Coffee: a coffee van sets up in the car park on Monday and Friday to Sunday, 9am to 4pm – midweek on a Tuesday or Wednesday, bring your own flask.
- Contact: Carlow Tourist Office, 059 913 0411.
Exploring further in Carlow
Oak Park works as a base for a wider day out. Within a short drive you can walk the gothic ruins and restored walled gardens of Duckett’s Grove, tour the medieval walls and gardens of Huntington Castle, or see the 18th-century rooms at Borris House. In the town itself, Carlow Castle is a quick stop.
Start at the triumphal arch, follow the markers to the Lake Path, and keep the coffee-van days in mind before you plan a midweek visit.