Qualla: Strangford https://qualla.com/strangford en-us © 2026 Bendyline Wed, 08 Jul 2026 02:40:16 GMT Qualla serial false Qualla support@bendyline.com yes https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/s/j/strangford-wk/hero-small.webp Qualla: Strangford https://qualla.com/strangford Strangford: Introduction https://qualla.com/strangford/ Photo credit Irishdeltaforce, CC BY-SA 3.0. If you arrived at Strangford in April 2019, you might have walked into a familiar setting without quite knowing why. The narrow streets, the harbour, the grey stone walls reflected back at you from the small screen - this was Winterfell. HBO had used Castle Ward, just outside the village, as Winterfell in the early seasons of Game of Thrones, and ever since, fans have made small pilgrimages here to see how a real Northern Irish estate stood in for the seat of House Stark. The Vikings would have approved of the substitution. The name Strangford comes from their Strangr fjorthr - the strong fjord - and the original kingdom they were measuring still rips back and forth through the channel a few metres from the village pub.

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Image: Irishdeltaforce | CC BY-SA 3.0

]]> Thu, 28 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/s/j/strangford-wk/gcsj-strangford-intro.mp3 0:06 1 full Strangford: Getting Here https://qualla.com/strangford/ Photo credit Albert Bridge, CC BY-SA 2.0. Strangford sits at the mouth of Strangford Lough on its west bank, in the Lecale peninsula of County Down. The most direct approach is Bus 16 from Downpatrick, which takes 25 minutes and runs hourly Monday to Friday, but only four times on Saturdays and not at all on Sundays. Dow...

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Image: Albert Bridge | CC BY-SA 2.0

]]> Thu, 28 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/s/j/strangford-wk/gcsj-strangford-getting-here.mp3 0:06 2 full Strangford: What to See https://qualla.com/strangford/ Photo credit Ardfern, CC BY-SA 3.0. The major sight on Strangford's side of the channel is Castle Ward, the National Trust property a mile and a half from the village. The house is famously schizophrenic - one half built in eighteenth-century Classical style, the other half built in eighteenth-century Gothic - refl...

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Image: Ardfern | CC BY-SA 3.0

]]> Thu, 28 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/s/j/strangford-wk/gcsj-strangford-what-to-see.mp3 0:06 3 full Strangford: Eat, Drink, Sleep https://qualla.com/strangford/ Photo credit None provided, CC BY-SA 4.0. Strangford's culinary calendar revolves around Little Wolf, the fish-and-chips takeaway on The Square that opens only on Friday evenings. The Hole in the Wall, at 12 Downpatrick Road, is the village pub - cosy, open every day from noon to 10:30 PM, the natural gathering place aft...

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]]> Thu, 28 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/s/j/strangford-wk/gcsj-strangford-eat-drink-sleep.mp3 0:06 4 full Strangford: Around the Region https://qualla.com/strangford/ Photo credit Erl Johnston, CC BY-SA 4.0. Strangford is small enough that an afternoon's hike covers most of the castles and the Neolithic tomb, and National Cycleway 99 passes through the village on its way from Newtownards down the Ards Peninsula and on to Downpatrick and Newcastle. The cycleway is all on-road but ligh...

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Image: Erl Johnston | CC BY-SA 4.0

]]> Thu, 28 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/s/j/strangford-wk/gcsj-strangford-around-the-region.mp3 0:06 5 full