Ireland (Lonely Planet, 9th Edition) - Fionn Davenport [539]
Adair’s B&B ( 4272 8412; 22 The Square; s/d £20/42, f per person £20) Mrs Adair’s friendly and good-value B&B is an anonymous-looking house right on the main square (there’s no sign outside; look for No 22), with three spacious rooms – a single (shared bathroom), a twin (with private bathroom), and a family room (with private bathroom; for up to four people).
* * *
LORD CASTLEREAGH
As you wander around Mount Stewart, spare a thought for Robert Stewart, Lord Castlereagh (1769–1822), who spent his childhood here. Despite going down in history as one of Britain’s most accomplished foreign secretaries, during his lifetime he was enormously unpopular with the public, who saw him as the spokesman for a violently repressive government. He was savagely attacked in print by liberal reformers, including Daniel O’Connell – who denounced him as ‘the assassin of his country’ – and the poets Percy Bysshe Shelley and Lord Byron. The latter’s notorious Epitaph for Lord Castlereagh could hardly be bettered for withering contempt:
Posterity will ne’er survey
A nobler scene than this:
Here lie the bones of Castlereagh;
Stop, traveller, and piss!
Castlereagh’s father, the first Marquess of Londonderry, primed his son’s political career in 1790 by buying him a place in the Irish parliament as member for County Down. The campaign cost a cool £60,000, leaving the marquess unable to afford various planned improvements to Mount Stewart.
As Chief Secretary for Ireland in the government of William Pitt, Castlereagh was responsible for quelling the 1798 Rising and for passing the 1801 Act of Union. Later he served as foreign secretary during the Napoleonic Wars, and represented Britain at the Congress of Vienna in 1815 (the 22 chairs on which European leaders sat during the congress are on show in Mount Stewart House). Political success did not bring happiness, however; while still in office, Castlereagh succumbed to paranoia and depression, and committed suicide by slitting his own throat with a letter knife.
* * *
Fiddler’s Green ( 4272 8393; www.fiddlersgreenportaferry.com; 10-12 Church St; s/d £45/65; ) This popular pub and restaurant provides B&B in four homely rooms – one has a four-poster bed (per night £75) – neatly decorated with pine furniture and paintings, and serves up a stonking cooked breakfast. The pub has traditional music sessions every Friday, Saturday and Sunday night.
Portaferry Hotel ( 4272 8231; www.portaferryhotel.com; 10 The Strand; s/d £65/110; ) Converted from a row of 18th-century terrace houses, this charming seafront hotel has an elegant, Georgian look to its rooms – ask for one with a sea view (£10 extra) – and has a good, family-friendly restaurant (mains £15 to £19) with a French-influenced menu.
GETTING THERE & AWAY
Ulsterbus services 9 and 10 travel from Belfast to Portaferry (£6, 1¼ hours, six daily Monday to Saturday, two Sunday) via Newtownards, Mount Stewart and Greyabbey. More frequent services begin from Newtownards (some buses go via Carrowdore and don’t stop at Mount Stewart and Greyabbey; check first).
The ferry ( 4488 1637) between Portaferry and Strangford sails every half-hour between 7.30am and 10.30pm Monday to Friday, 8am to 11pm Saturday and 9.30am to 10.30pm Sunday; the journey time is about 10 minutes. The one-way/same-day return fares are £5.30/8.50 for a car and driver; £3.40/5.30 for motorcyclists and their bikes; and £1.10/1.80 for car passengers and pedestrians.
Greyabbey
pop 1000
The village of Greyabbey is home to the splendid ruins of Grey Abbey ( 9054 6552; Church Rd; admission free; 10am-6pm daily Easter-Sep, noon-4pm Sun only Oct-Easter). The Cistercian abbey was founded in 1193 by Affreca, wife of the Norman aristocrat John de Courcy (the builder of