Lough Key Forest Park sits on the southern shores of its namesake, a large lake that looks smaller than it is thanks to the dozen or so islands that are littered throughout. The Forest Park is a large recreation area, boasting accessible trails, a visitor centre, official campsite, zip-lining, boat tours, kayaking, and Sauna. While there are dozens of different ways you can walk the trails throughout the woodlands, today I’m sharing a 6km loop, primarily following the parkrun route.

Overview - Lough Key Forest Park:

Distance: 6km
Format: Looped
Time: 60mins - 100mins (depending on route, fitness, and how long you want to take in the views)
Parking:
There is a primary car park for the Forest Park here - it costs €5, and is right at the visitor centre, with easy access to all the amenities.
There is also a small area here to park for free. It is en route to the main car park, probably a little over 1km away from the visitor centre. It can fit 16 cars.
Trail difficulty: Easy
The park is well kept and decently waymarked, but not perfect. The route that I walked for this video is based on the Lough Key Forest Park Run, with an extra 1km because I walked in to the visitors centre for a coffee, and back out.
Read about trail grading in Ireland here.
Trail quality: 3/5
The trails in the park are very well maintained. There is space for more way-marking / adding more routes, however I know that the park has received extra funding for 2025, so I’m expecting some great additions.
Views: 4/5
Great views of the surrounding mountains and coastline. Lovely for such a small local trail.
Buggy/Wheelchair friendly: Yes
There primary trail surface is a smooth gravel trail, accessible for most buggies and off-road wheelchairs.
Dogs allowed: Yes
Lough Key is a very dog friendly park!
Further Info:
Learn more about Lough Key Forest Park on their official website.

Starting from the free car park, head in past the black and yellow barrier, following the yellow walking man way-marking for The Miners Way. The trail follows a gentle downhill before reaching a Y-junction, where you take the left fork. Walking this trail in mid-autumn, I wandered under a canopy of greens, yellows and oranges, the gravel trail beneath blanketed in fallen leaves, muffling my passage.

Like many large forest areas still existing in Ireland, this land was passed down through chieftains, and then managed by English landlords. A stronghold of the McDermott family from as early as 1184, in the 17th century it was granted to the King family from England under the Cromwellian settlement. It was the King’s who built the large mansion called Rockingham House, developing the grounds to create a picturesque estate, the remains of which we experience today.

Crossing the low footbridge over the canal, you get your first glimpse of the larger lake and general waterways that surround the park.

The path hugs the shore of the lake for most of the middle section, with openings in the trees leading you down to old piers or just pretty view points to look out from. After a little over 2km, the high bridge to Drummans Island appears to the left. A lap of the island is about 1.5km, and has some sheltered benches and bigger piers to walk out onto.

There is also a folly or two on the island. Architectural follies are structures built throughout gardens and estates that add to the lore or aesthetic that the owner wanted the landscape to invoke. In the case of the forest park, the King Family built much of the structures to look far older than they were (such as the fairy bridge). While not always obvious, these hidden pieces of ornamentation are still dotted about to find.

Returning to the mainland once more, the trail takes you along avenues of Western Red Cedars, before delivering you into the main open parkland and visitor centre. Once the lawns of the estate house, the surrounds here are expansive after the dense woodland. In 1957 the big house was destroyed by a fire, believed to have started from an electrical fault. A concrete viewing tower called The Moylurg Tower was built on the site of the house in 1973, standing tall on the hill to this day.

Enjoying my afternoon out, I stop into the visitor centre for lunch. Living not too far from this park, I feel lucky to get to enjoy it through all seasons. In the summer months, particularly on the weekends, this area is swarming with people and families, picnics and parties strewn across the countless benches. At this time of year, when the grounds are empty but the sun is making a valiant effort to rally some final rays, I breathe in the beauty that draws so many people to the waterfront. As I look out across the water from the cafe, one of the major attractions is sitting right in front of me: McDermott’s Castle.

McDermott’s Castle, or just simply The Rock, is probably the most famous element of the Forest Park. Adrift from the mainland, this castle, or a version of it, has existed there for over 800 years. Most of its surviving history is of sieges won and lost against the island, with the place being overrun by fire several times. Much of what is visible today dates from the same time as when the manor house was built, and castle island was refurbished into part summer house, part folly.

On crisp days of still weather, it can look like the island is just out of reach from the mainland, the castle looming across the distance. On rougher days, it shrinks within the waves, and I’m left wondering how anyone ever lived there.

Finishing my sandwich (much to the annoyance of the local bird population), I walk through the middle of the large lawn, and take the trail past Zippit and back to my starting location. Lough Key Forest Park is one of those quiet, magic places that draws you in with its beauty, lets you find comfort under the trees, and in the quiet, less trodden corners, reminds you that nature isn’t some thing over there, but the web that we’re all a part of.