Ballyhornan Bay Beach

The strand at Ballyhornan curves gently away towards Strangford Lough, and on a clear day you can pick out the Mourne Mountains rising behind everything like a proper backdrop. It's a quiet beach - properly quiet - with the kind of sand that's firm enough to walk on without your boots filling up, and rock pools scattered about that'll keep kids occupied for hours if the tide's right.

This isn't a seaside resort with amusement arcades and chip shops. What you get is space, birdsong, and the occasional walker with a dog. The beach connects to Ballyhornan village, which sits just outside Downpatrick, so you're never far from the real world if you need a coffee or a loo. It's the sort of place you come for the quiet rather than the spectacle.

Walkers will find it suits them well enough - the coastal path along here rewards a morning's leg work with views across the lough, and it ties in nicely with Castle Ward just down the road if you're planning a proper park-based holiday. The nearby caravan parks at Coney Island and Castle Ward are both decent bases, though honestly you'll want to move around the area a bit. Ballyhornan itself doesn't demand hours of your time, but as part of a larger Mourne and Strangford loop it's genuinely worth the detour. Go when the light's good - late afternoon can be cracking - and check the tide tables before you visit so you're not trudging across mud flats.