We have put our hill walking to one side for another year as we are in the middle of Autumn and the weather is getting colder and the evenings are getting shorter. At this time of year, we are always looking for interesting looped walks, forest trails and close walks to home that don’t require too much driving.

We found the Dunbrody forest walk after a bit of Googling ‘Wexford walks’. We previously did a tour of the Dunbrody famine ship so we found it interesting to discover that there was a walk around the woodland that the timber came from to make the ship.

Carpark to start the walk

If you put “Lacken Fairy Woods” into Google maps the Dunbrody Forest carpark will be shown. The carpark for this walk can also be found here.

Key Information about this Wexford Walk

• It has a fairy village at the start of the trail
• Great Autumn walk
• Amazing views on Lacken Hill
• Young kids love all the hidden fairy doors
• Fairy doors the whole way to the top of the hill
• Short walk to Lacken hill & Cross
• Sign posting to the Cross location could be better
• One of Wexfords best Autumn walks
• Hard to find on Google Maps- Click the link to go to Maps.

Starting the Dunbrody forest walk

We parked our car at the gates of the forest which probably has room for about 8 cars. There is a large timber sign at the start of the wood saying “forest of the Dunbrody”. We looked at the information board and decided to do the small loop walk around the wood and then walk up toward the 1798 monument.

As we walked into the forest, the Red arrow pointed right at the Y junction. There is also a sign pointing up the steps toward the 1798 memorial.

We followed the red arrow looped walk through the beech forest. As it is Autumn we were showered in fallen multicolour leaves, Ourlittlehiker was amazed by all the colours. She has become so independent lately and doesn’t want to be in her hiking bag as much anymore. We left her bag in the car for today. She loves hiking and walking and even insisted that we all have hiking sticks from fallen timber.

At the end of the long straight that cuts through the beech forest, the path started to rise gently and turn back toward the direction that we started from. We walked for about 5 minutes through a pine wood and then started to walk back down toward the beech forest again.

The trail then cuts through another pine tree section that is filled with amazing fairy doors, this was a lovely surprise. We played and knocked many of the doors but all the fairies must have been asleep.

From here we walked over a sty and fence and up a lane which then cut back into the woodland. The trail follows the natural lines of the trees and bends and rises around all the mature pines overhead. We eventually come back out onto a larger woodland road similar to the one we were walking on previously. We follow this road uphill until we come to a dead end. A smaller trail cuts off to the right through a freshly planted forest, we follow this for 5 minutes until we reach the monument at the top of the hill.

Lacken Hill 1798 Rebel Camp memorial

At the top of the hill, a metal cross and large stone mark the place where many died in the 1798 rebellion. From the top of the hill, there are lovely views of Wexford. We decided to not continue on the Blue loop as the second part of the walk goes onto a road and Ourlittlehiker hasn’t mastered the skills for road walking just yet.

Map to Lacken Hill

The walk to Lacken Hill is less than 1km. this is a perfect distance for a Sunday stroll with the kids. this is one of our favourite Autumn walks with the Kids, they love it.

Thoughts on Lacken Hill and Dunbrody forest Walk

It is very obvious that the local community take great pride in this lovely Wexford woodland walk. The Red loop walk is a lovely easy walk for a young family. Most of the walk can be accessed with a buggy with about 100m near the end that would require the buggy to be carried. The wood has loads of fairy doors scattered throughout and the paths are in superb condition.

Overall this is a very easy Sunday stroll that has a nice bit of history scattered through it. We easily explored the whole area with a toddler insisting on walking most of the trail in around 1 hour and loved every second of it.

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