The Dark Hedges

The Dark Hedges are a 300-metre avenue of beech trees on Bregagh Road between Armoy and Stranocum in north Antrim. The trees were planted by the Stuart family around 1775 to create an impressive approach to their Gracehill House estate; the branches have grown together overhead over 250 years to form a continuous tunnel of interlocked limbs. The road is a working public road, though it carries almost no through traffic — Bregagh Road connects two minor rural junctions and was functionally irrelevant before the trees became famous.

They became famous quickly and specifically: in 2012 the Dark Hedges appeared as the Kingsroad in the second season of Game of Thrones, the scene where Arya Stark flees King's Landing disguised as a boy. The episode aired, social media found it, and within two years the avenue had become one of the most visited spots in Northern Ireland. There is now a car park at each end of the road.

The trees are at their most photogenic in early morning before tour buses arrive, in autumn when the canopy turns orange and yellow, and in winter when the bare branches are most dramatic. Fog is common in the north Antrim lowlands and transforms the avenue entirely. Midday in summer — a queue of people holding phones — is the least interesting time to visit.

Several of the original trees have been lost to storm damage over the past decade and have not been replaced; the canopy is thinner than historical photographs show. The remaining trees are protected. The avenue is free to visit at all hours and requires no booking.