Experience Nature at its Best!

At Ballyhoura Forest Holiday Homes nature is just outside your door and all around in the picturesque Ballyhoura Country. Its ideal for nature lovers.Can you identify the plants and wildlife? Why not use the Bird and Butterflies of Ballyhoura booklet, or the bird boards to help you?

Bird-watchers, from amateurs to rare bird enthusiasts, find lots to see in the farm-land, near the rivers, in the forests, on the open mountains and on the lakes. Griston Bog near Ballylanders, Lough Gur near Bruff, Kilcoleman near Doneraile, and Golden Vale lagoons near Charleville are but a few of the sites that attract bird watchers.

Hen harriers, kestrels and peregrine falcons can be seen soaring in the skies. In March 2010 the Pied-billed-Grebe and Ring-necked duck were rare visitors from North America.

Interpretation of the bog-land plants and wildlife is at Griston Bog (10 mins drive), while the Nature Trails in the Green Wood (5 mins drive) have information boards to help you check your knowledge.

Keale River Walk, a family walk, If you would like to get a real feel for an Irish woodland and river bank with at least forty shades of green then the Keale river walk is the perfect solution. It is a 7km river walk between the two villages of Glenroe and Ballyorgan.

Keale River is a level walk fenced from start to finish with many little bridges in between. It is completely safe and ideal for families. Go in at Ballydonoghue Bridge near Ballyorgan and travel along by the river. The start is through farmland and then you come to a beautiful wood and a waterfall in the river.

For anyone doing the walk in October/November time, John Hennessy, a local man, advises to look out for the salmon jumping the waterfall. It is peaceful and quiet, with very active wildlife such as otters, dippers, kingfishers, Herons and squirrels. You will also come accross one of the last oak tree woodland left in Ireland with many anemone, bluebells or mushrooms depending on the time of year.;