Boutique Domes

Beaches are just one beauty spot around here – in the Binevenagh Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, tracking down a vantage point to take in all of those blue waves, fields and villages is easy enough with the Devil’s Thumb’s (20 minutes’ drive) views over the Wild Atlantic Way and Gortmore Viewpoint (10 minutes). A walking trail through a ruined mansion and gardens is something unusual to add to your plans, perhaps. This is the setting at the National Trust’s Mussenden Temple and Downhill Demesne (five minutes). To the northeast, Dunluce Castle (25 minutes) is another historic site. As Irish castles go, it is one of the most stunning – the medieval fortress, now ruined, is connected to the mainland by a bridge and set on a basalt outcrop. Such a setting should spark the imagination indeed. If among all of that, you feel like a day out in the city, Derry (40 minutes) is the spot. Walk the route of the still-intact 17th-century walls or take a pitstop tour of the cathedral, the Tower Museum and the neo-Gothic Guildhall. ​