The Dark Hedges

On visiting a famous backdrop from a Game of Thrones episode

Returning back from our holiday in Eire, we travelled through Northern Ireland and went to visit The Dark Hedges, a stunning tree lined road in Country Antrim.

The Dark Hedges are famous for appearing in Episode 1 of The Game of Thrones scene from Season 2, “The North Remembers” featuring as Kingsroad, where Arya Stark travels to escape the King’s Landing. We haven’t watched any Game of Thrones, so we have no idea how that scene looks on the screen.

The Dark Hedges are beech trees that were planted around 1775 either side of a long avenue, which is leads towards Gracehill House, a Georgian mansion built by James Stuart and named after his wife Grace Lynd.

The beech trees were planted to impress visitors as they approached the mansion and formed part of a wider estate. Now you can find bars, restaurants, 16 bed hotel and an 18 hole golf course as the area has become quite a tourist attraction.

The avenue itself is pedestrian only, but there is a car park nearby, just a few minutes walk and despite the over cast day and lateness of our visit and the fact that some of the trees had to be felled due to storm damage it was still an impressive view, especially as you walk along the avenue.

The trees have suffered from Storm Isha and Storm Éowyn and with the need for safety maintenance, overall 13 of these majestic beeches have been lost since 2023. Surprising given they are almost 250 years old and still draw quite a tourist crowd, you would have thought more of the trees would have needed to be removed.

As we walked up and down between the trees, we thought It would be interesting to see these beeches in the summer, especially on a misty morning or late summer evening, but also during the Autumn when the colour of the leaves change so dramatically.

As it was, we made our way there during the Easter break, late in the afternoon and under an overcast sky, but we were still able to appreciate the stunning beech tree branches as they canopied over the avenue, casting a dim shadow across the road as we followed it up and down.

Returning from the avenue, we got the see Gracehill House more closely, which is said to be haunted by The Grey Lady, and if you look carefully at the windows of the house, you can see two ghostly figures peering out onto the lawn. One dressed in white the other in red. The Grey Lady is thought to be Crossy Peggy, the daughter of James Stuart, who is buried in an abandoned graveyard close by, and is said to wander through the trees at dusk, disappearing once she reaches the last tree.

It was well worth a visit, despite everything being closed by the time we got there. It actually helped make it more enjoyable as we could take photos without there being lots of people in the way and it was quite a relaxed walk up and down the avenue and being able to see the avenue clearly.

I decided to edit my photos in black and white as I feel you can appreciate the texture and shape and pattern of the trees more and the photos have a moody feel to them.

Thank you for reading.

Take care everyone.

Dawud

The Dark Hedges