For Little Legs · Family Days Out Across Northern Ireland
Story Trails for Kids in Northern Ireland
The trick to getting a four-year-old to walk a mile is giving them something to look for. Eight walks with a story attached — and six of them cost nothing at all.
A story trail is the single most effective walking trick there is with small children — they stop asking how much further and start looking for the next thing. Here are the eight in Northern Ireland genuinely worth the drive.
These are short on purpose. Most are between half a mile and a mile, which is exactly right for legs that would flatly refuse a "walk". The story does the work: children who complain after ten minutes on a forest path will do three times the distance looking for the next giant.
Six of the eight are free. Colin Glen's Gruffalo Trail, the Giant's Lair, the Narnia Trail, all three Sperrins giants and CS Lewis Square cost nothing to walk. Some have a car park charge. Only the Galgorm fairy trail and the guided version at Colin Glen are ticketed.
Read the book first. It sounds obvious and it doubles the day. A child who knows The Gruffalo will spot the mouse, the snake and the owl before you do; one who has never heard it just sees carvings in a wood. Same with Narnia and the wardrobe at Kilbroney.
Two of them are properly buggy-friendly. The Giant's Lair at Slieve Gullion is a stroller-friendly kilometre, and the Narnia Trail at Kilbroney is short, surfaced and manages a wheelchair. If you have a baby as well as a toddler, start with those.
Go early or midweek in the school holidays. Colin Glen and Slieve Gullion in particular fill up at weekends and in July and August, and a busy story trail loses some of its magic when you are queuing to see the Gruffalo.
Bring a bag for treasure. Every one of these ends with pockets full of sticks, stones and conkers. Accept it early.
1
The Gruffalo Trail, Colin Glen
Colin Glen Forest Park, west Belfast · free to walk
The best-known story trail in Northern Ireland and the only officially endorsed Gruffalo Trail on the island of Ireland — Julia Donaldson signed it off. Sculptor Andrew McIntyre carved the whole cast, and they are set along the Colin River through the forest park, so you meet the mouse, the fox, the owl, the snake and finally the Gruffalo himself in the order the book puts them. It is free to walk whenever you like. There is also a paid guided Gruffalo and Stickman walk with a storyteller, which includes a book and a certificate for each child and needs booking, especially in the school holidays.
45 minutesFree to walk · guided version ticketedThe only official Gruffalo Trail on the island
Slieve Gullion Forest Park, Killeavy, Co Armagh · free
Also called Fionn's Giant Adventure, and the most ambitious thing of its kind here — a kilometre of woodland turned into a living storybook, with fairy houses, dragons, giants and witches drawn from the Cuchulainn legends of the Ring of Gullion and retold as chapters you walk through. It takes about forty minutes, it is free, and the paths are genuinely stroller-friendly rather than "stroller-friendly if you are determined". The best story trail in the country, and it costs nothing.
40 minutes · 1 kmFreeStroller-friendly the whole way
Listed separately because it is what turns Slieve Gullion from a forty-minute trail into a whole day. The adventure playpark sits right beside the start of the Giant's Lair, so the pattern is: story trail first while everyone is fresh, playpark afterwards until they are done. There is a café on site and the scenic drive up through the forest park is worth doing on the way out. All free.
As long as they lastFreeRight beside the Giant's Lair — do both
You step through an actual wooden wardrobe into the trees, and from there it is carved figures from The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe through the woods at the foot of the Mournes. The link is real rather than invented — CS Lewis holidayed in Rostrevor and the Mourne landscape is widely credited as part of what he was picturing. It is short, surfaced, and manages a wheelchair or a pram, which puts it on a very short list. Kilbroney Park itself has a playground, a café and the Fairy Glen walk beside a tumbling stream if you want more.
30 minutes · under half a mileFreeWheelchair and pram friendly
The most unexpected thing on this list. Thomas Dambo — the Danish artist whose enormous recycled-timber giants are hidden in forests all over the world — built three of them across the Sperrins, and this is the first. Nowanois the Storyteller sits at the old Sperrin Heritage Centre site in the Glenelly Valley, and the scale of him is the point: photographs do not prepare you. Free, with parking right there, on one of the loveliest and emptiest roads in Northern Ireland.
30 minutesFree · free parkingOne of three giants scattered across the Sperrins
The second of the three Sperrins giants, near Gortin. The reason to treat these as a set rather than three separate stops is that finding all three across a day turns the Sperrins into a treasure hunt — a long drive through empty hill country becomes a mission with a prize at the end of each leg. Darach is the guardian of the group, and he is enormous.
30 minutesFreeGiant number two — make it a treasure hunt
The third giant, lying back and looking upward, and the one that comes with a bonus. The Sperrins have some of the darkest skies in Northern Ireland, so if you can time the last leg for dusk in winter you get the stargazer and a genuinely starry sky in the same visit. Free, like the other two, and the least visited of the three.
30 minutesFreeThe third giant — and dark skies overhead
Seven bronze sculptures of characters from The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe standing in an open square in east Belfast — Aslan, the White Witch, Mr Tumnus, the lamp post and the wardrobe itself. Lewis was born a few streets away. There is no trail to walk and no ticket: they are simply out in the open, free, climbable and photographable, on the flat surfaced Connswater Greenway. The easiest one on this list to do on a whim.
30 minutesFreeCity-centre easy — no drive, no boots
Running since 2017 and the most produced of the lot. Children get a trail map with clues and puzzles to solve as they go through the woodland, past a Wizard School and a Troll Swamp built by local craftsmen. Because it is ticketed and structured it works better for slightly older children — a five to nine-year-old who likes a mission will get far more from this than from a walk with carvings. Book ahead in the school holidays.
1 hourTicketed · see siteThe only paid one — and the most structured
At Colin Glen Forest Park in west Belfast. It is the only officially endorsed Gruffalo Trail on the island of Ireland, with the whole cast carved by sculptor Andrew McIntyre along the Colin River. It is free to walk, and there is a separate ticketed guided Gruffalo and Stickman walk that includes a book and certificate for each child.
Are there free story trails in Northern Ireland?
Yes, most of them. The Gruffalo Trail at Colin Glen, the Giant's Lair at Slieve Gullion, the Narnia Trail at Kilbroney Park, all three Sperrins giants and CS Lewis Square in Belfast are all free to walk. Some have a car park charge. Only the Galgorm Castle Fairy Trail and the guided Colin Glen walk are ticketed.
Which Northern Ireland story trail is best for a buggy?
The Giant's Lair at Slieve Gullion is a stroller-friendly kilometre, and the Narnia Trail at Kilbroney Park is short, surfaced and manages a wheelchair or pram. CS Lewis Square in Belfast is completely flat and paved.
Where is the Narnia Trail in Northern Ireland?
At Kilbroney Park in Rostrevor, Co Down, at the foot of the Mournes. You enter through a wooden wardrobe and follow carved figures from The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe through the woods. CS Lewis holidayed nearby and the Mourne landscape is credited as part of his inspiration.
What are the giant sculptures in the Sperrins?
Three enormous recycled-timber giants by the Danish artist Thomas Dambo — Nowanois the Storyteller in the Glenelly Valley near Cranagh, Darach the Guardian near Gortin, and Ceoldán the Stargazer near Cookstown. All three are free with parking, and finding all three across a day makes a good treasure hunt.
How long do the story trails take?
Most are 30 to 60 minutes and between half a mile and a mile — short by design, because the story is what keeps small children walking. The Giant's Lair is about 40 minutes over a kilometre; the Narnia Trail is under half a mile.
Which one should we do?
Pick your trail in one line
Got a toddler and a buggy? The Giant's Lair at Slieve Gullion, or the Narnia Trail at Kilbroney — both short, both surfaced, both free.
Child who knows the book? The Gruffalo Trail at Colin Glen. Read it in the car on the way.
Older children who want a mission? The Galgorm fairy trail with its map and puzzles, or hunt all three Sperrins giants in a day.
No time and no drive? CS Lewis Square in east Belfast — flat, free, and half an hour.
