Ireland (Lonely Planet, 9th Edition) - Fionn Davenport [610]
Tullylagan Country House ( 8676 5100; www.tullylagan.com; 40b Tullylagan Rd; s/d £65/95; ) Set amid beautiful riverside gardens 4km south of Cookstown (just off the A29), the ivy-clad Tullylagan goes for the Victorian country manor feel, with shabby-chic sofas, gilt-framed mirrors on deep red walls, and marble-effect bathrooms with period taps. The restaurant (mains £14 to £23; open for lunch daily and for dinner Monday to Saturday) specialises in locally produced seafood, game and beef.
Getting There & Away
The bus station is on Molesworth St, east of the main street. Bus 210 connects Cookstown with Belfast’s Europa BusCentre (£8, 1¾ hours, four daily Saturday, two Sunday to Friday). Bus 80 shuttles between Cookstown and Dungannon (£3, 45 minutes, hourly Monday to Friday, eight Saturday).
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DUNGANNON & AROUND
Dungannon is a pleasant enough market town halfway between Cookstown and Armagh, worth a brief stop in passing if you want to do a spot of shopping.
Killymaddy Tourist Information Centre ( 8776 7259; www.flavouroftyrone.com; 190 Ballygawley Rd; 9am-5pm Mon-Fri, 10am-4pm Sat & Sun) is at a caravan site 10km west of Dungannon on the A4 road towards Enniskillen.
Tyrone Crystal
Ireland’s first crystal factory was established in Dungannon in 1771 by Benjamin Edwards from Bristol. It closed down in 1870, but Tyrone’s crystal industry was revived in 1968 by a local priest, Father Austin Eustace, who raised funding to establish a new factory to help relieve local unemployment.
Today, Tyrone Crystal ( 8772 5335; www.tyronecrystal.com; Coalisland Rd, Killybrackey; tours adult/child £5/free; 9am-5pm Mon-Sat) continues to produce high-quality lead crystal. The factory offers guided tours (11am, noon and 2pm weekdays only) of the manufacturing process, from the furnace where molten glass is prepared, through hand-blowing and moulding, to cutting and polishing. Admission to the showroom is free, and the tour price is reimbursed if you buy something.
The factory is 2.5km northeast of Dungannon on the A45 towards Coalisland – it’s clearly signposted. Bus 80 to Cookstown stops nearby.
Linen Green
Housed in the former Moygashel Linen Mills, the Linen Green ( 8775 3761; Moygashel; 10am-5pm Mon-Sat) complex includes a range of designer shops and factory outlets, plus a visitor centre with an exhibition covering the history of the local linen industry. It’s a good place to shop for bargain men’s and women’s fashion, shoes, accessories and linen goods or to stop for lunch at the Deli on the Green (see right).
Donaghmore High Cross
The village of Donaghmore, 8km northwest of Dungannon on the B43 road to Pomeroy, is famed for its 10th-century Celtic high cross. It was cobbled together from two different crosses in the 18th century (note the obvious join halfway up the shaft) and now stands outside the churchyard. The carved biblical scenes are similar to those on the Ardboe cross (Click here). The nearby heritage centre ( 8776 7039; Pomeroy Rd; admission free; 9am-5pm Mon-Fri) is based in a converted 19th-century school.
Grant Ancestral Homestead
Ulysses Simpson Grant (1822–85) led Union forces to victory in the American Civil War and later served as the USA’s 18th president for two terms, from 1869 to 1877. His maternal grandfather, John Simpson, emigrated from County Tyrone to Pennsylvania in 1760, but the farm he left behind at Dergina has now been restored in the style of a typical Ulster smallholding, as it would have been during the time of Grant’s presidency.
The furnishings in the Grant Ancestral Homestead (Dergina, Ballygawley; admission free; 9am-5pm Mon-Sat) are not authentic, but the original field plan of the farm survives together with various old farming implements. There’s also an exhibition on the American Civil War, a picnic