Rostrevor

Rostrevor is a tiny village in the foothills of the Mountains of Mourne in Co. Down, Northern Ireland.

We live about 2 miles outside of Rostrevor and it is the spot about which Percy French wrote the famous song "The Mountains of Mourne".

It's also the location for part of the shooting of the recent movie "Philomena" starring Judi Dench.  And Game of Thrones is filmed very close to here.

A news article about Judy's visit here -
she actually found some relatives here in the village...  

Here are a few of the highlights for me....

Fiddlers Green Festival takes place here at the end of July every year and starts off with a concert up in the mountain at a clearing called Fiddlers Green which is the name for fishermen's heaven.

Setting the scene at Fiddlers Green

A lot of the Festival events happen on the water and the mountain and it attracts the best of Irish traditional and folk music both as headliners and visitors.  One of my favourite events is a day when guys with boats bring others out on the water.  And a friend of the festival who swims every day in San Francisco Bay out to Alcatraz, comes here every year to swim across the lough symbolising the union between north and south.   the further coast that you can see in this picture is in Co. Louth in the South of Ireland.

Messing about on the water during Fiddlers Green Festival

When we first moved here I was fascinated by the Fairy Glen .... the river is the Glenshee which translates as Fairy Glen and the walk along the river can take you away into another land without too much imagination being used. 

The Fairy Glen

 It's almost a pilgrimage for visitors to walk up to Clough Mor - the big stone - which was thrown by Finn McCool legend has it!   the boring people tell us that it is a remainder of the ice age but Finn's story is much more likely!!!!    I wrote a blog about Finn and the Big Stone here...

Clough Mor or the Big Stone at the top of the mountain behind the village

Looking down on the village

It's a very picturesque place and I fell in love with it the instant I first visited.  

You can read more at The Rostrevor News Page

Water Street