Facilitated through the education programme a group of 12 children aged 6-11 completed the John Muir Award (Discovery level). The children involved were dedicated to fulfilling the main four objectives, Discover, Explore, Conserve and Share.
Highlights of the programme included fungal forays, learning about bat ecology and completing a survey, delving into the rich history of the estate, clearing scrub to conserve the tree collection in the arboretum and sorting native tree seeds to help with Castlewellan Forest Park’s nature conservation programme.
The Castlewellan Arboretum and Annesley Garden is situated north of the foothills of the Mourne Mountains in County Down, Northern Ireland.
Located on Forest Park View, Castlewellan, County Down, in a dramatic setting of mountains and sea, Castlewellan Forest Park has one of the most outstanding tree and shrub collections in Europe. The beauty, vigour and perfect shape of the trees in the National Arboretum attract tree enthusiasts from around the world.
