January 2024


nitravelnews.com


THE LOCAL TOURIST | 65


Glenarm Castle Walled Garden Celebrates Latest Accolade VERONA Bridal, Skull and Bones Tattoo Studio and Flax Art Studios are just three of the 15 successful Vacant to Vibrant applicants to date breathing new life into Belfast city centre, with many more progressing – ranging from retail, beauty and food and beverage offerings. Vacant to Vibrant is a key project in Belfast City Council’s Future City Centre Programme, aimed at creating a vibrant, unique and thriving place where people spend time, live, work, study, visit and invest. The £1 million pilot capital grant scheme opened in July 2022 in response to the high levels of city centre vacancy, aiming to incentivise both property owners and potential occupiers to bring vacant Belfast city centre spaces back into use, while supporting the city centre’s revitalisation and ensuring sustainable rates growth. Applicants on the scheme can also benefit from wrap around support offered by council’s Enterprise and Business Growth team, providing resources to support the start-up or expansion of the business or organisation, including access to one-to-one mentoring and workshops to help with growth and long-term sustainability. Councillor Clíodhna Nic Bhranair, Chair of Belfast City Council’s City Growth and Regeneration Committee explains:


Breathing New Life into Belfast City


GLENARM Castle Walled Garden Co Antrim has won the Historic Houses 2023 Garden of


sponsored by Christie’s. It is the first time a garden from Northern Ireland has been shortlisted and subsequently crowned winner of this prestigious national UK award.


Presented annually since 1984, the Historic Houses 2023 Garden of The Year Award is designed to recognise the importance of some of the country’s most spectacular gardens with outstanding horticultural and public appeal. The award is voted for by members of the public who judge the gardens based on a variety of factors that contribute to their enjoyment. Votes were cast between April and September with Glenarm Castle Walled Garden triumphing over five other worthy contenders, from across the UK, for the precious crown of 2023 Garden of the Year. The 200-year-old Walled Garden,


which has been charming visitors to the north Antrim coastal village of Glenarm since 2005, hosts an annual tulip festival every May.


Created in the 1820s to provide seasonal produce for the Castle, all that remains of the original garden are the rustic stone walls and a circular yew hedge. Having been completely restored and replanted by Randal and Aurora Antrim, with the help of garden designer Catherine FitzGerald and


renowned plantsmen including the late Nigel Marshall and now Neil


GALGORM Thermal Spa Village is celebrating another accolade for its globally renowned spa, winning ‘Best UK Spa’ at the AA Hotel Spa Awards. Newly launched this year, the awards organised by AA Hotel & Hospitality Services recognise and celebrate the standards of hotel spa facilities across the UK. Following a careful selection process,


the AA inspectors


identified that Galgorm’s Thermal Spa Village was best in the UK due to its exceptional and exemplary spa standards and outstanding wellness experiences.


The award adds to the growing collection of accolades for the Resort, which has been widely commended for its sustained commitment to excellence and has attracted international recognition from across the wider hospitality and luxury spa industry. Tara Moore, Head of Spa Operations for Galgorm said: “We are thrilled to have been awarded ‘Best UK Spa’ at the AA Hotel Spa Awards, adding another honour to the collection for Galgorm’s Thermal Spa


the Year Award,


Porteous, it reimagines the original purpose of a Walled Garden with its ornamental plantings of fruit trees in garden ‘rooms’. These range from a crab apple garden underplanted with wildflowers, to an ornamental pear garden.


With its ‘room’ structure the garden provides private, contrasting spaces in which visitorscan be peaceful and reflective, whilst the planting offers visitors something exciting to see whenever they visit. There are thousands of tulips and other bulbs when the gardens open in spring; fine collections of hostas, peonies and roses in June and in July the garden is bursting with colour with wonderful herbaceous plants and flowers. Randal and Aurora Antrim, current custodians of Glenarm Castle Walled Garden said: “When we embarked on this project over twenty years ago there wasn’t much more than crumbling walls and a few grazing sheep, so to now be winners of the Historic Houses 2023 Garden of the Year Award is incredible. We are so grateful to everyone who voted for us and particularly thrilled to be the first garden in Northern Ireland to win this prestigious prize.


The award is a particular testament to the dedication of our small team and some of the wonderful plantsmen and designers who have helped us over the years. The garden is still very much a work in progress, but we really


Galgorm Spa Awarded ‘Best UK Spa’


Village – it’s a great way to end the year. This award win recognises our significant investment, our focus on delivering


customer experience,


an unrivalled and


of course the hard work and dedication of our talented people that make Galgorm what it is.


“This accolade once again reflects our unwavering commitment, not only to achieving excellence in every area, but also to enriching the tourism industry in Northern Ireland”.


Located in the heart of Northern Ireland and set within 450 acres of gardens and woodlands, Galgorm has carved out a reputation as one of the world’s premier, luxury destinations. Since 2010, having already invested more than £60 million, with ambitions to invest £30 million by 2027 to expand and enhance its resort and spa facilities, Galgorm is asserting its strong position as a world-class international tourism destination for UK, Irish and global travellers.


hope that winning this award will encourage visitors from far and wide to come and see what we have been up to in our beautiful and special corner of the world.”


Ben Cowell, of Historic Houses,


Director General added:


“We


are thrilled that in this, the 40th anniversary year of our Garden of the Year award, the prestigious title has gone for the first ever time to a garden in Northern Ireland. Glenarm Castle fully deserves its


prize. The walled


gardens there have been transformed through ingenious plantings and by an imaginative viewing platform. The gardens provide another


additional


reason to visit this most special place on the beautiful Antrim coast. Well done to all involved!” Orlando Rock, Chairman, Christie’s


UK,


commented: “I am delighted to congratulate Glenarm Castle for winning


the prestigious Historic


Houses Garden of the Year Award. This striking achievement in the 40 th anniversary year of the award is a testament to the captivating and enchanting gardens that have flourished under the stewardship of Aurora and Randal Antrim. Glenarm Castle’s garden is a dynamic showcase of nature’s beauty throughout the seasons and the garden’s unique ‘room’ structure presents an exciting array of botanical wonders for visitors to discover. A true jewel on the Antrim


coast!” the city “Vacant to Vibrant is supporting small


businesses, independent retailers, social enterprises, and cultural and voluntary organisations to transform vacant spaces and make Belfast a more attractive, diverse and inclusive place to visit, socialise, study, work, live, and invest in. This funding is also helping to sustain jobs, create new employment opportunities, improve individual properties and the quality of our streetscapes and helping to protect heritage buildings. “I’m so impressed at the level of ambition and creativity being displayed by the organisations we’re funding,


and I’m


looking forward to seeing many more applications coming through so we can help people get established in centre. These local businesses


and organisations are providing employment, helping to deliver an authentic Belfast experience and fostering a greater sense of pride in the city.” As part of the council’s wider programme to tackle vacancy, and to support the Vacant to Vibrant scheme, council also provides a matchmaking service through a partnership approach with commercial agent Frazer Kidd, linking businesses with potential units, with the opportunity to access capital funding through the scheme. Grants of up to £2.5k are available for pop-up ground floor use (minimum four months), up to £15k for active floor usage up to 150m², and up to £25k for active floor usage over 151m².


The Institute of Place Management which provides strategic advice to government on supporting sustaina- ble place making models and developing internationally recognised standards on place management performance has identified Vacant to Vibrant as an exemplary project in terms of its inception, design and delivery. For more information, and to watch a video featuring Skull and Bones on North Street, Verona Bridal on Bruce Street and Flax Art Studios on Bedford Street, go to www. belfastcity.gov.uk/vacanttovibrant


Austrailan and New Zealand Journalists Have a ‘Write Time’ in Northern Ireland


SEVEN travel journalists from Australia and New Zealand have been exploring Ireland,


as guests


Tourism Ireland and Tourism Ireland.


Northern of


Northern


The aim of the trip is to showcase some of the many luxury and sustainable


tourism experiences available here


to the visiting journalists, as well as to highlight our rich culture and heritage, spectacular scenery and fantastic food and drink. The group has been following an action-packed itinerary, which includes the Saint Patrick Centre, Hillsborough Castle and Gardens, Armagh Robinson Library and a river cruise in Enniskillen.


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