点评:The site of Glenarm Castle and its grounds is greater than the sum of its parts. It is a castle, walled gardens, a children's play area, and a set of several shops for artisan goods run by the people who made them.
First, a warning about GPS instructions. Ours took us to an old castle gate at the end of a narrow, dead-end street. You don't want the location in town, you want the one about a half-mile north and up the hill.
Once we found the correct location, there is easy parking.
Ironically, we came here more for the gardens than the castle, and did not tour the castle itself. We'll leave that to the reviews of others. The garden itself is attractive and well-kept, but note that during our visit in early June it was notable more for the design and interesting flora, but was not the kind of place packed with acres of flowers. Yes, there are many flowers, but they are not the key element of the design. We enjoyed an hour or so walking around the gardens. If you want, there is also an adjacent woodland walk.
They have an excellent garden-oriented shop (with other unique items as well), but what made this visit for us was the set of craft shops at one end. These are run by the individual artisans (carpenters, ceramicists, etc.) who are eager to tell you about what they have made. We found them engaging and charming and, yes, we happily brought some of their pieces home as attractive souvenirs.
This is an excellent stop along the attractive northern coast of Ireland.
翻译:格伦阿姆城堡及其周边地区远比各个部分加起来更精彩。它包括一座城堡、一座围墙花园、一个儿童游乐区,以及几家由工匠亲自经营的工艺品商店。
首先,提醒一下关于GPS导航。我们的导航把我们带到了一条狭窄死胡同尽头的一座古老城堡大门。您不必前往镇上的那个位置,而是要前往位于北部约半英里(约800米)处,沿着山坡向上走的那个位置。
找到正确的位置后,停车非常方便。
颇具讽刺意味的是,我们来这里主要是为了欣赏花园而非城堡本身,所以并没有参观城堡。城堡的参观就留给其他游客的点评吧。花园本身很漂亮,维护得也很好,但需要注意的是,在我们六月初参观期间,花园的亮点更多在于其设计和有趣的植物,而不是那种繁花似锦的繁花盛开之地。没错,这里有很多花,但它们并非设计的重点。我们在花园里漫步了一个小时左右,非常愉快。如果您愿意,还可以沿着旁边的林间步道漫步。
这里有一家很棒的园艺商店(也出售其他一些独特的商品),但真正让我们流连忘返的是一端的工艺品商店。这些商店由各个工匠(木匠、陶艺家等等)独立经营,他们热情地向您介绍自己的作品。我们觉得他们既亲切又迷人,当然,我们也欣然带了一些他们的作品回家作为精美的纪念品。
这里是爱尔兰北部迷人海岸线上一个绝佳的停留点。