Visit Glenveagh National Park.

Located in the heart of the mountains and valleys of County Donegal, Glenveagh National Park is one of Ireland’s 6 national parks. Renowned throughout the country for its wilderness and fantastic scenery, Glenveagh Park is a fantastic playground where you can drag your walking shoes until you’re tired. Don’t forget to bring your camera: it’s the perfect place to immortalize magnificent views of Irish nature!

History of Glenveagh National Park

A wealthy landowner acquires several hectares in Glenveagh…

It all began with one man: John George Adair, a wealthy Irish-Scottish landowner who, over the years (from 1857 to 1859), gradually acquired countless parcels of land in County Donegal. These wild lands are a magnificent playground for him, where he indulges in the pleasures of hunting and walking. Charmed by the location, he decided in 1867 to build a château at the very heart of his estate.

Construction was completed in 1873, and he decided to settle there with his wife Cornelia Wadsworth Ritchie, a wealthy American. They lived there peacefully until John George Adair’s death (in 1885). Following the death of her husband, Cornelia Wadsworth Ritchie decided to carry out extensive improvements to the castle and gardens, and began introducing numerous red deer to the estate to organize huge hunting parties.

The estate passes from hand to hand

In 1921, Cornelia Wadsworth Ritchie died, leaving the castle uninhabited until 1929, when it was bought by Arthur Kingsley Porter, a professor who had come from Havard to study Irish culture and archaeology. However, the man mysteriously disappeared 4 years later during a visit to Inishbofin Island.

In 1937, Henry McIlhenny, an Irish-American wishing to rediscover his roots, bought the château and its grounds. He restored the chateau, while at the same time maintaining the rest of the estate and preserving its flora and fauna. In 1975, he sold the estate and castle to the Irish state, which decided to open a national park known as Glenveagh National Park in 1984.

Visit Glenveagh National Park

11,000 hectares of wilderness to play in

Like all national parks, Glenveagh is free to enter, and offers over 11,000 hectares of beautiful mountains, forests and lakes. The activities on offer are as diverse as they are varied, giving you the option of picnicking in the middle of the Irish moors, or taking in some of the hiking trails to make sure you don’t miss out on any of the phenomenal scenery on offer.

Surrounded by a large mountain range (the Derryveagh Mountains), Glenveagh Park features a gigantic lake (Lough Veagh), which winds its way through numerous meadows, marshes and deep forests. There’s also a magnificent Irish-Scottish castle in Glenveagh Park. The latter, which can be visited in its entirety, boasts fabulous wooded gardens in a dream setting. It’s the starting point for Glenveagh Park’s walks, which take you to the heights of the park.