Families

Come and explore this beautiful estate, and start building special memories for you and your family, which will last a lifetime.

By opening Montalto to the public, we wanted to create a place for active families to go: a place where children and adults alike can be inspired, and a place where imagination can take over.

After much careful thought, incredible attention to detail, and an unwavering focus on ensuring that nature remained at the heart of everything, we feel we have created somewhere very special, with lots of wonderful and unique features, that you and your family will love.

Our Tree House

You know you have reached the natural play area at The Low Wood when you see the impressive wooden tree house towering ahead of you. This spectacular tree house was hand-built to a bespoke design, right here on the estate by highly skilled craftsmen. It is large enough to keep kids occupied, entertained, and active for hours – and don’t worry adults, it’s large enough for you to join in the fun too.

The Tree House offers a range of exciting activities and areas, including a jungle bridge, a climbing tower, and rope bridges. So, when you’ve had enough of life in the treetops, what better way to come back down to earth than via our forest floor slide?

Our Natural Play Area at The Low Wood

Our custom-designed wooden playground will keep your kids (whatever their ages) amused for hours on end, by fuelling their imaginations through exploration and discovery.

This fun and beautiful outdoor environment encourages communication, creativity, peaceful interaction, and real human engagement. Everything about this area adheres to our philosophy of reconnecting with nature: it’s about simplifying – rather than complicating – the concept of play.

So just sit back, relax, and watch your children unleash the power of their imaginations!

The Bark Park

Opened in late June, the Montalto Bark Park is a dedicated dog area located within our trails, and was designed with owners in mind, providing a haven for canine companions to roam free, socialise, and exercise off-lead in a safe and secure environment.

This area offers tail-wagging features including spacious off-lead areas where you let your dog run free and explore the expansive, fenced-in space. Challenge your pup’s physical and mental skills with a variety of fun obstacles in the dedicated agility course area and ensure your canine companion stays hydrated throughout their playtime at the water station.

Our Wildlife and Nature

As you make your way along our trails and through our gardens; you can expect to catch glimpses of our wonderful wildlife.

Make sure to keep your eyes peeled for some of the more unusual inhabitants of the estate, including woodpeckers, otters, and pine martins, along with the more common mallards, butterflies, dragonflies, foxes, rabbits, squirrels, and common garden birds. Also, look out for the wonderful array of unusual fungi in the woodlands.

Children learn about nature in school, but there is nothing like exploring and discovering nature first hand, in a fun and interactive way. With a massive variety of trees, plants and flowers there will always be something new for kids to discover and learn about; often without even realising they are learning.

When you come to visit, please don’t be afraid to ask us questions. And make sure to tell us what creatures and plants you have spotted.

Our Rainy Days

Our Northern Irish weather means raincoats are always at the ready and at Montalto we love rainy days. Not only is the vitality of our gardens, trees and wildlife dependent on plenty of rain, it also gives us the chance to jump in muddy puddles.

Yes, we know it can be messy, but isn’t that the reason children love to do it? It’s such a simple pleasure and one we love to see children enjoying.

And we’re not sure why exactly, but for some reason, exploring just seems to be so much more exciting in the rain. That’s why, even when it’s wet outside, don’t let that stop you from enjoying a great day out with your family.

So, if it happens to be raining when you visit with your kids, pull on your wellies, bring a change of clothes, and remember that dirt is good.

Our Facilities

As a visitor attraction that caters to all different age ranges and interests, we strive to have the full range of facilities needed to ensure that you and your family can have a happy, fun, and safe day out. For families wanting to bring bikes, children under 5 are permitted to bring small bikes and trikes. The trails are not suitable for larger bikes. A bike rack is available at the Café entrance.

Our facilities include baby changing and welly-washing facilities, a baby station in The Café at Montalto, bike-parking, play equipment, dog lead hooks and water bowls, as well as an agility & off-lead area, and of course, lots of bins and toilets.