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NEWCASTLE |
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NEWCASTLE isn't exactly exciting, but it's well equipped for a range
of outdoor activities, including walking in the Mourne Mountains
southwest of town , pony trekking , and fishing on the river. Golfing
enthusiasts may be tempted by Newcastle's Royal County Down golf course
(tel 028/4372 3314) which has a reputation as one of the top ten links
worldwide.
All buses arrive at the terminus (tel 028/4372 2296) on Railway Street
at the eastern end of Main Street, which, heading a couple of hundred
yards west, becomes the Promenade. Here you'll find the very helpful
tourist information office at 10-14 Central Promenade (Mon-Sat 10am-5pm,
Sun 2-6pm; tel 028/4372 2222). There's a wide choice of places to stay ;
the best of the more upmarket hotels is the Hastings Slieve Donard Hotel
on Downs Rd (tel 028/4372 3681; www.visitcoastofdown.com/slievedonardhotel
; £70-90), though it's closely pressed by the Burrendale Hotel & Country
Club , 51 Castlewellan Rd (tel 028/4372 2599; reservations@burrendale.com
; £90-110). Cheaper central B&Bs include Fountainville House , 103
Central Promenade (tel 028/4372 5074; £33-40), and Castlebridge House ,
2 Central Promenade (tel 028/4372 3209; £26-33). Three miles northwest
of town, in BRYANSFORD village, opposite Tollymore Forest Park, is the
cordial and comfortable Briers Country House , 39 Middle Tollymore Rd (tel
028/4372 4347; www.visitcoastofdown.com/thebrierscountryhouse ; £40-55),
with a popular restaurant serving wholesome meals at reasonable prices.
The only HINI youth hostel in this region is in a town house on
Newcastle's seafront at 30 Downs Rd, near the bus station (tel 028/4372
2133). There are also eleven caravan and camping sites around Newcastle,
though the best are located in the forest parks .
Mario's Italian Restaurant , 65 South Promenade, on the front towards
the harbour is the best place for evening meals and Sunday lunches,
unless you go out of town towards Castlewellan (take the A50) for the
Burrendale Hotel & Country Club whose Vine Restaurant is extremely
popular. The Donard Hotel on Main Street also does reasonable lunches.
The Pavilion on Downs Road does everything from snacks to steaks, while
the Percy French , also on Downs Road, offers reasonable à la carte.
Otherwise there are plenty of cafés, chip shops and fast-food outlets
along the Promenade.
For the inevitable rainy day, the town has indoor alternatives at the
Newcastle Centre and Tropicana Complex on the promenade (summer only),
with swimming pools, water slides and playgrounds. On Dundrum Road, half
a mile east of town, is the Route 66 US Automobile Museum (Easter &
June-Aug daily 11am-5pm; May, Sept & Oct Sat & Sun 2-5pm; £2.50),
displaying all the great American cars - Thunderbirds, Cadillacs,
Mustangs - and a wondrous collection of jukeboxes. Newcastle has a few
literary connections: Seamus Heaney was a waiter in the 1950s at the
long-gone Savoy Café ; Brook Cottage (now an hotel), on Bryansford Road,
was home to the dramatist and dialect-poet Richard Valentine Williams,
better known as Richard Rowley; and, a fountain on the Promenade
commemorates the popular Irish songwriter Percy French, composer of "The
Mountains of Mourne" and numerous comic songs. Behind the Newcastle
Centre a plaque celebrates one of the first powered flights in Ireland,
undertaken in 1910 by Harry Ferguson to win a £100 prize - he was later
to become famous through the success of the Massey Ferguson tractor.
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